#I skip so many Alex videos on my feed

[paperlovesadness]

Do you ever just casually stroll around your social media & get a recommended video of your hiperfixation and just go "nope; skip immediately" because you're not quite emotionally prepared to get the obsessive tingly feelings at that moment?

Or is it just me

[bylrlve]

Warning! Potential Spoilers for Stranger Things 5!

A compilation of recent tweets made by Alex and others about the mileven ‘making out in a field’ leak. Alex is insisting that this scene is separate from the sequence involving them talking on the rooftop, the scene which was leaked as a video back in January. According to 011scenes this scene happens ‘at the beginning’ aka in episode one.

The issue? Alex’s sources are people who speak to paps (which she lied about in answering a cc question; either that or she’s clueless), and who deliberately feed her inconsequential things production dgaf abiut because it distracts from the juicy shit e.g., what Mike and Will are doing. She was told ‘Robin and Will have a scene’ and that morphed into ‘Will is in his unrequited mopey Steve era, Jonathan and Robin don’t share scenes’, etc. The source said nothing about Byler being finished or about passionate makeouts.

I’m suspicious of the second anon’s claim about Finn, as Noah is straight-up went on TikTok live right before filming commenced in January to read out byler endgame and Byler kiss comments lmao. The bit about the love triangle being kept under wraps seems accurate enough - they’re openly passing out scraps of mileven to leakers to pass onto Alex, and it’s pretty clear they didn’t care about that mileven video hitting national news website in the Uk (daily mail). Byler? On lockdown. The only thing we know is the hospital stuff and that’s due to specific leakers, and even then it’s not that much. It is clearly a big question going into s5 for the GA, so it being kept tightly guarded is unsurprising.

The context of the kiss will be interesting, regardless of if it’s pro-mileven or somehow anti-. Alex indicates that it’s only them present in the field - BUT she’s also said that she outright leaves Will out of ‘leaks’ and gave the example of Max, Lucas, and Will having a scene but her only reporting Lumax having a scene, so… S4 mileven was a concerted effort to show that the characters had matured from s3, and that their fight was more serious. They only kissed once, and that briefly, and were… unaffectionate at the end of the season, to say the very least. The reversion to kissing in broad daylight, in an apocalyptic setting when El will be mostly hiding with Hopper from the military, feels a little out of character - and will certainly be jarring tonally and thematically.

Alex received this dm ^ back in February (discussed in my first leak post), which stated that hopper is annoyed by mike’s continuing presence around el. I and many others (including Alex iirc) dismissed it, as Hopper and Mike are on good terms at the end of s4. If Mike and El are still doing reckless things in s4, and if the old pattern of isolating El from others just to kiss re-emerges, though… The veracity of this is very shaky: the time skip occurs gradually over episode one, not in between episodes 1 and 2.

It’s important to note that many leaks are undoubtedly missing context. Just today, Alex brought up how she was right about Mike ignoring Will at the airport, about their fight, and about the airport kiss. Yes, she was, but she lacked the tonal subtext of the scene itself, which portrayed Mike’s behaviour as inexplicably phony - and of course, she lacked the lynchpin of this plot, which is that Will is in romantic love with Mike. She completely missed that, and it meant she missed every important aspect of this plotline.

Byrhop, a highly reliable st acc who’s closely following filming, was able to ascertain that Vickie is at the farm.

Lastly, I want to go over everything I know to try and map a trajectory. The Byers are living in the radio station before it’s overrun by military and they flee to the Turnbow farm - I personally am not sure of when exactly this occurs. There is a leaked hospital file showing that Karen Wheeler is attacked by a demogorgan. The file is dated as 1/1987 but it could be a prop error, as I’ve seen claims that she’s attacked when Holly is taken..

As we know, according to the leaked episode 2 title, Holly Wheeler goes missing. This likely occurs at the end of episode one, but the chronology is unclear. Karen being attacked could happen here, and I’ve seen claims that it happens in episode 2. Mike and El kiss in episode one, and as I’ve said this has been overblown greatly by Alex. The chronology of this is also unclear. At some point in episode one, Mike and Dustin are at the high school and interact with the jocks. Mike is wearing the same outfit he wears on the rooftop - dark trousers, blue and black shirt with a yellow collar, etc. As this is what he wore in the official pic released by Ross of him in his room, I am speculating that this is the first outfit he wears in the story proper, after the last time jump to November 1987, and that he may wear it throughout episode 2 as well

In episode 2, Mike, Nancy, and Karen have a plotline at the hospital. From official BTS pics, we know Robin and Vickie are there as well. The above anon does not mention Mike being injured, and its description of Karen’s mindset does not tally either with her having being attacked by a demogorgan prior or with Holly being abducted. It’s likely that they have partially but not totally accurate information; or else it’s a point in favour of Holly being taken and Karen being attacked after this happens, at the end of episode 2. I have confirmation that Mike is injured in episode 2, as are several other people - I discussed this in a post a few days ago - please discount the forehead kiss anon section of that post. This was confirmed by an extra who played a nurse on the scheme and by a different source later. The second source confirms that Will shows up last, and is crying and blaming himself for what happened. - I also have confirmation that El doesn’t show up to the hospital at all. The nurse extra also confirmed that Mike and Will ‘share scenes’ although he was not present for those so can’t speak as to what happened in them - I don’t have an image of that text so didn’t include it yesterday.

The forehead kiss anon is definitely not real (check @will80sbyers) but the rest seems to be.

Lastly, Atlanta-filming insinuates that the m*leven rooftop scene occurs after the hospital subplot. It’s unknown how they came to this conclusion.

To summarise: m*leven kiss in episode one, potentially during one of the staggered time jumps (my speculation) and the short rooftop conversation between them likely in either episode one or two immediately before something involving Hopper and Joyce occurs down in the field that alarms El. I’ve seen conflicting into on when Holly is abducted - either episode one or episode two. In episode 2 Mike, Karen, and Nancy go to the hospital for plot reasons. If this occurs after Holly goes missing, it is likely to be related to that. I am speculating that Holly vanishing, whenever it happens, accelerates the byler plotline, as Mike will more-than-likely seek out Will for advice, reassurance, information. In episode 2, Mike gets injured somehow at the hospital, along with several other people in a small-scale mass-casualty event, and ends up being admitted to the hospital. As I’ve said, it seems to be rock-solid that Will arrives and is crying and blaming himself for what happened, and Will stays with him but El is nowhere to be found in this plotline. We know from BTS pics that Robin and vickie are also there, and I’ve seen claims that Jonathan shows up to be with Nancy, but have no proof or knowledge of the providence of such claims, so… take that for what it is. It is pretty certain, as far as I know, that El is not there.

One possibility is that Will is possessed at least temporarily in 501-2. Perhaps there’s another superspy, ‘it’s a trap’ situation? Will Byers would never be reckless with the safety of Mike Wheeler or his family… but I bet Vecna and the mindflayer are just itching to attack the one salvation standing between them and Will. Something to muse on.

The timing of the rooftop scene is very important. El not showing up at the hospital is unlikely to happen after it. The scene is very clearly about affirming their relationship- whether as lovers or as friends. It’s likely that she’s distracted by Max, who is her main plot, but this is a narrative. El not being present for Mike, while Will is there and crying and staying by his side? That is telling of a potential rift that opens up in their relationship between episode one and two. There is a pattern of problems arising in their relationship in episode twos. In s2 El reached out to Mike during his call but he walked away while an ominous stinger played. In s3 they broke up at the end of episode 2. In s4 they had their disastrous roller rink date.

A few days ago, I gif’d the rooftop scene, and speculated that they’re discussing being friends, and that El apologises for not being there and Mike says ‘No. You should have been.’ before basically saying that he’s okay because Will was and “you’re all friends to me.” The ending of s4, to me, potentially marks a shift in Mike’s attitude to El, as much as it does for hers to him. In the hospital she seeks him out by resting a head on his shoulder, and she did speak briefly with him prior about Brenner, but he offers her no comfort beyond a stiff arm around her. When they arrive at the cabin, he walks in with the other boys instead of staying with her - as shes’s clearly very nervous and emotional about reentering the cabin. Finally, as we have all observed, she directs an almost angry look at Will and Mike before stomping into her room and slamming the door - a parallel to s3 after the phone call with Mike where she knew he was lying. When it pans back to Mike, and Will asks if they’ve talked? He rolls his eyes. Unlike in 403, he does not seek her out and push through her self-isolation. He leaves her be. This, coming from Mike the Paladin, suggests that he’s kind of done with trying.

El’s attitude has been convincingly dismissed by M*levens as simple grief over Max causing her to retreat as she always does. It is bizarre, however, that the monologue did nothing at all to make her feel she could rely on Mike, and much more so that he’s very apathetic.

I posit that they might, maybe, fall into old habits of passivity and inertia and string the relationship along over the time jump. Perhaps the kiss is from one of the interim jumps between March 1986 and November 1987? I could see El having too much on her plate to really address it, and feeling that she doesn’t want to push him away - after all, he did give the big damn speech. The kiss could be a parallel to Boyce and Stancy. If that Hopper leak is accurate (doubtful), perhaps they fall back into habits of clinginess and immaturity while still being deeply unhappy. Nurse extra stated that Mike is no longer trying to be normal, and that he’s discovering himself, being himself again, and being the support he once was - the wording rather implies that it means being the support to Will.

Of course, I could be wrong, and it could be that they’re doing very well, and that the kiss is indeed as happy and loving as Alex paints it out to be… but I am skeptical bc of the hospital, and because of El the brave protector not rushing to her boyfriend’s side. It’s simply too early to say. If my musing on whether Will was possessed and effectively set Mike up (against his will ofc) is correct, and if my lip-reading is correct, Mike speaking affectionately of Will here could be due to the fact that he’s intimately witnessed Will being possessed, and he knows Will would never do something like that on purpose.

Finally, definitely worth noting that there have been no signs of any NPC love interests. Will’s storylines are being protected well from leakers, so people could be missing something, but there has been no indication of it. What we are getting, though, is a focus on Will’s love of Mike, and his selfless devotion.

All of this is incredibly shaky, and I’m interested to hear your guys’ opinions on alternate sequences of events. Whatever the truth, clearly m*leven is inconsequential to the production, as it’s being deliberately leaked to distract from the real juicy stuff.

Oh, and I just want to wrap up by mentioning this bit of idiocy. Someone in Alex’s inbox sincerely thought that the production actually kills fields they want to look dead-looking, rather than editing it. And Alex agreed.

[gumnut-logic]

Dear Mr Tracy... (Part 2)

Sweetapple | Part 1 | Part 2

@flyboytracy​, @amistrio​ and @onereyofstarlight​��  you asked for it, so you get to suffer more :D

Many thanks to @katblu42​ for the read through and patience with all my crazy questions.

Well, a weekend deprived of digital connections and a muse that fled due to circumstances being very unrelaxed has led me to writing this part all in one day today. Like wow, I hope it makes sense because my brain is fried at the moment.

Quite a bit of exposition in this one, please bear with me :D

And yep, still @flyboytracy​‘s fault :D

I hope you enjoy this.

-o-o-o-

Alex didn’t get a reply to his email, because the next day Jeff Tracy returned from the dead.

It was the oddest feeling. You know, one of those ‘where were you when that happened’ moments.

Alex was in the bath.

It had been a horribly long day with the final work prepping for the first of Siliwrap’s real world testing. No matter what Erica said about not working too hard, he couldn’t help but apply himself.

He was a bit of a perfectionist.

It took her yelling, this time. Called in their supervisor, Tia, of all people, and laid down her case.

Apparently, Alex was overdoing it and needed to rest.

His glare had zero effect and Tia sent him home. There was time, she said.

Yes, he had time, but what of those who could be saved by Siliwrap?

Perhaps he was idolising International Rescue a little too much. It wasn’t as if he was a hero like the Tracy brothers. But he did have his own skill set and he wanted this project live as soon as possible, though not without skipping the necessary testing protocols.

He was pedantic.

And not a little obsessed, if he could admit it to himself.

But then it was the slightly crazy people in the world who made changes for the better.

But in any case, he was sent home and he took the opportunity to try and relax.

A bubblebath and aromatics might just be enough to flush away the question of whether Mr Tracy was going to reply to his email or not.

He set up his tablet beside the bath and had it playing music as he settled into the hot water, exhaling to let all the pressures of needing to get stuff done wash away.

Only to have the feed be interrupted by Erica, of all people.

“Alex, you there?”

“Erry, I’m doing the relax thing you wanted me-“

“He’s alive, Alex. Jeff Tracy is alive!”

“What?” He sat up in the bath and hit the vid button with soapy hands.

Erica stared at him a moment, frowning at the suds in his hair no doubt, but rambled on regardless. “International Rescue saved him! Found him in the Oort cloud, of all places. Eight years in space, my god, do you think he will be okay? It’s just amazing. You have to see this!” She threw him the holosignal and suddenly Thunderbird Two was projected above his bath, VTOL flaring as she landed outside a hospital. The feed flickered to an announcer and a much-used photo of the patriarch of the Tracy family standing proud in his uniform. Blurred video of IR uniforms rushing a prone figure through hospital emergency doors. It wasn’t until then that Alex realised, it wasn’t a usual hospital, but one of those GDF installations. The news banner scrolling across the bottom claimed it was the GDF base west of Auckland.

Jeff Tracy was here? On the same Island of Aotearoa as he?

“Where did you get this?”

“Alex, wake up! It’s all over the nets. The GDF are about to make a statement.”

Alex stared dumbfounded as the feed flickered again, to be replaced by a stern looking, dark haired woman in full dress uniform. She radiated command and Alex found himself scooting backwards in the bath.

Her words were short and succinct. Yes, Jeff Tracy had been rescued from the depths of space. No, International Rescue was not ready to give a statement. Mr Tracy’s condition was serious, but stable.

And he was with his family.

The blurry scene of the cluster of IR operatives was shown again, this time in slower motion.

Alex stared as he counted the dark hair of Mr Scott Tracy on one side of the stretcher and opposite him, the even darker hair of a blue and green uniformed figure that just had to be Virgil Tracy.

There were more uniformed operatives, a red head and a couple of blonds and two women, one older and the other dark and alert.

But he could see little before they all disappeared inside again.

His heart lurched. He had met three of those men. Men who did so much. Their hunched concern over the prone body on the stretcher was obvious as he watched it replayed again.

They flashed up a picture of Mr Scott Tracy, dressed in his perfect suit, a soft smile on his face and babbled about his conduct and achievements in the last eight years.

Eight years!

Questions were asked of what happened now the billionaire had returned.

Quick interviews on the street, obviously made because no one else was talking, only threw more questions, even conspiracy theories to the wind.

 Alex found his mouth open and the half of his body up out of the water now shivering.

It was one of those moments.

A moment when the world changes.

Jeff Tracy was alive.

-o-o-o-

What followed that day was curiosity and a little fear. All the staff of Tracy Industries had different reactions.

You had the positives like Fireman Fred - who had actually burst into tears when he was told. Nothing like a giant sobbing red-haired Scotsman on the loose. Everyone heard about it, because everyone heard it.

The man was simply loud.

Erica was all excitement herself. For all her concern about Alex’s obsessions, she certainly had her own and gossip was one of them.

Not the nasty gossip, more the curious discovery talk, finding things out and marvelling. And boy, did she marvel at Jeff Tracy.

As more news reports rolled in and eventually the Tracy family themselves stepped up to the podium, she was the avid spectator digging every crumb of information out of every syllable spoken and analysing the situation to death.

She was also known to go feral on anyone who suggested anything nasty within earshot.

Tracy Industries employees verged on cult status when it came to the Tracy family, but a big thing like this did bring out the uncertainties and the possibility of change.

No one really likes change and everyone hates uncertainty. The unknown of whether things would continue as usual or if Mr Tracy Senior would be taking back the reins off Mr Tracy, now Junior. Factions grew. Some supported the Senior, some felt the Junior had done a lot of work. Queries were made to older staff members who had been there when Mr Tracy Senior was in charge. People like Fireman Fred extolled the virtues of Jeff Tracy. While others adored the apparently softer, more approachable Scott Tracy.

There were words, and although anyone by the name of Tracy was pretty much worth a sainthood in these parts, humanity is what it is and people worried.

But there was more. Outside of Tracy Industries, there were bigger questions.

The revelations of what saving Jeff Tracy from the Oort Cloud actually meant to humanity.

Can we now travel faster than the speed of light?

Who owns that technology? The Thunderbirds are amazing, yes, but this was a step for humanity itself. This is power that needs control.

The world was in an uproar.

It was change that enveloped everything.

But Alex found himself returning to the same thoughts. Behind the big things, behind the money and the accomplishments, and the debates, there was a family, some of whom he had had the privilege to meet, that had found a long-lost parent, who was now ill in hospital having endured what had to have been an unimaginably horrible experience.

How were they? Would their father survive?

The world, of course, sent flowers and sympathies and best wishes for a fast recovery. But Alex did none of that. He just kept the family in his thoughts and hopes.

If he was caught on one or two chilly nights staring up into the star-filled sky wishing on a couple of them, so be it.

In the meantime, there was work and Alex threw himself into it, his email to Virgil Tracy forgotten as the project progressed from atmospheric testing with success after success.

He let the world worry about things he had no control over and kept his focus on what the Tracys would want it to be - on the job at hand.

-o-o-o-

 Alan Tracy was tired when he finally made it home.

He had stayed in space with John to dismantle the Zero XL.

Five was the first to leave the conglomeration of Thunderbirds that made up the huge spaceship. Alan had then had to lower the XL into the atmosphere close enough to release One and Two, protecting them from re-entry heat and stress. Both ‘birds tore off to Tracy Island to complete the family reunion. Alan hated that he couldn’t be there, wanting to cling to the father he had missed for so long, but there were still necessary tasks to be done.

And he was a Tracy.

Once his brothers had left, Alan, with Brains still on board, had accelerated enough to breach Earth’s gravity well again. It was a push from this angle, but Alan had managed worse.

The XL’s great thrusters combined with Three’s strength pushed them back up out of the atmosphere to align and dock with Five.

Alan had to smile.

John had deployed her solar array and her familiar shape had been restored.

He manoeuvred the XL into a clean dock with the tail end of the station, then disengaged Three from the shell of the lightspeed engines and docked her more familiarly with her gravity ring.

Moments later, John climbed aboard and they were all rushing home in order to catch up with the rest of their family.

That had been days ago.

Alan had been in Auckland ever since, bouncing between the house in Parnell and the GDF base where his Dad lay slowly recovering.

The list of ailments was downright horrifying. Alan had been on the verge of dragging his father back up into space to save him from the pain.

It had only been quiet words from Scott that had calmed his beating heart.

God, it hurt to watch his Dad suffering.

Sure, Alan was an experienced emergency responder, he had seen the nasty reality of what space could do to a body on far too many occasions.

But this?

Eight long years.

They had saved Dad. But had they?

When Scott ran out of words, Virgil took over. He had more medical training than Alan, but Alan had enough to be terrified.

Virgil himself was obsessed and barely left Dad’s side. So it was Grandma who finally calmed Alan down enough to see sense.

Dad was sick, yes. Very sick. But there was a chance. They were Tracys, they played chance every day and won far more often than they lost.

Dad was home. First challenge met. They would meet all the coming challenges the same way.

Together.

Alone in his bedroom, Alan let out a shaky sigh.

Grandma had sent him home with Gordon, mostly for some downtime, a night at home, away from the hospital and the heartache.

When he asked why he had to leave, Grandma said carers had to look after themselves in order to look after those who needed their care.

When Alan protested that Scott and Virgil were looking as bad as Dad, Grandma’s lips had thinned and Alan had been shocked at how old and tired she had looked in that moment.

Gordon had intervened, his eyes on their grandmother, his voice quiet, and the two brothers hadn’t said much the entire flight home.

They were to gather some of Dad’s things and bring them back to the hospital after a good night’s sleep.

Alan stood staring at his room as if it was an alien environment.

The last time he had slept here, he had been an orphan.

Now…

The tears came from nowhere but they were ever so needed.

Everything that had happened in the last few days just welled up inside and threw him to his knees.

Perhaps it was a good thing that only he and Gordon were on the Island. He could crack up in peace.

He cried for a while and despite it being exhausting he did find it a bit of a release. So much before the launch, the crux of the mission on his shoulders as pilot, and then meeting Dad.

He swallowed down another sob. He had been so happy to see his father, he hadn’t thought-

“Allie? You okay?”

Suddenly, he was wrapped in a pair of strong arms that could only belong to his fish brother and for once in his life, Alan didn’t pull away.

Those arms tightened and tugged Alan’s head to a gold-covered shoulder.

He sat there and listened to his big brother’s swimmer’s lungs as they drew in and let out air.

They sat there for a while. Gordon didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave and honestly, they had been kicked back to the Island to rest, so what the hell.

Alan was just tired.

Maybe Grandma was right.

“You want to talk about it?”

Alan blinked. Did he?

“Not really.”

“Okay.”

Those arms managed to get just a little tighter in the moment of silence after that.

“You know Dad is going to be okay, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Maybe. Should be. Did they really know?

“Because he is.”

And Alan was suddenly reminded of another severely ill family member. He pulled away and looked up at his brother.

Gordon was a little pale in the room’s lighting and his expression was more worry than the generally positive, bouncing blob of energy it usually was. But his skin was still tanned and healthy. Alan knew there were scars under that shirt that had hurt so much.

But Gordon was here now. Still his adorable big brother. Strong despite the injuries and the long-term issues.

And so…Gordon.

A moment and he was suddenly hugging his brother, overwhelmed yet again.

“Hey, hey…” But Gordon hugged him back as Alan screwed up his face on his brother’s shoulder.

“It’s gonna be alright, Allie.”

“Yeah.” It was the only word he could get out.

So he clung.

-o-o-o-

After a while Allie relaxed a bit and the two of them separated. There was embarrassment on Alan’s part, but Gordon didn’t seem to care.

They sat on the floor with their backs leaning against Alan’s bed talking.

About Dad.

About Scott and Virgil and John.

About Grandma.

About their family.

What had been a moment of exhaustion morphed into one of catharsis and relief. Perhaps Grandma knew he had to get away from the family to properly crack up.

He shouldn’t be surprised. Grandma really did know everything.

Well, except how to cook.

“When was the last time you checked your phone?”

Alan blinked sticky eyes and realised Gordon was poking at a phone. Alan’s phone.

It had a rocket phone case, of course.

“What the hell? Whatcha doing?” He swiped at the phone and missed.

“You do realise you have two hundred odd unread emails in here?”

“Gordon, give me my phone.”

“Oooh, you have fan mail.”

“Give it to me!”

But his brother was suddenly frowning. “Since when do you drink coffee with Alex Sweetapple?”

“Who?” Alan was the one frowning now, but this time he did manage to swipe the phone out of his brother’s hand as the man was actually trying to read his email.

So much for all that brotherly love a moment ago.

“Do you even drink coffee? I thought Scott banned you from that after the last time you went super soldier on the stuff.”

“I am an adult, you know. I can drink coffee any time I like.”

“Sure. You dealing Thunderbird Two’s coffee machine to the employees?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Alex Sweetapple, number one fan of Virgil’s coffee.” He made an attempt to grab the phone back and failed as Alan skittered away a bit and held the phone at length.

“Don’t know him, but it sounds like he has good taste. Even you like Thunderbird Two Brew.”

“Then why is he emailing you?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t even seen it yet, thanks to certain annoyance.” He glared at Gordon.

Gordon smirked at him, lopsided.

Alan grunted and poked at his phone. Sure enough, there was an email from an Alex Sweetapple with the subject heading of Coffee.

He opened it to discover that whoever they were, they were begging to get a hold of how Virgil made his coffee. “He wants the recipe.”

“For coffee?”

“Uh-huh. Who is he anyway?”

“One of Virgil’s engineers at Māhia. He’s got this cool product in development. Virg took me down there a few months back to check it out. It has some great applications underwater.” A frown. “In fact, if I remember correctly, he should be ready for testing soon.”

Alan stared at his fish brother. It shouldn’t, but it always did surprise Alan when Gordon talked science. It was so easy to forget that his lampooning sibling was as qualified in his fields as the rest of them.

They were just different fields.

“So why would he email me?”

“Can I see the email?” Gordon held out his hand.

Alan held up the phone instead, not willing to give up possession as, yes, there was fan mail on there, authorised by Thunderbird Five that he hadn’t yet had a chance to read.

He did so love reading his fan mail.

Not so much Gordon reading it.

The fish rolled his eyes and play-acted squinting up at the text. For some reason his mouth had to be half open to see things clearly.

“He wants Virgil’s coffee recipe.”

“That’s what I said.”

Gordon paused and looked away thinking. “You know him and Virgil had a really long chat that day. I ended up wandering off because I couldn’t suffer the engineerese any longer. I reckon if we hadn’t been called out, that the chat would have gone on longer.” A smile crept over Gordon’s face. “You know, they’d make a lovely couple.”

Alan wrinkled his nose and pulled the phone away. “What?”

“Virg does need a distraction.”

“You steal him away from Dad for a stupid reason and you’re dead.”

Gordon held up a hand. “Hey, I know what I’m doing. Been playing with older brother brains for a lot longer than you.”

Alan grumbled. Been playing with a younger brother’s brain as well, obviously. Mentioning the six-year gap between them was dirty pool.

“I’m not a kid, Gordon.”

“Never said you were.” The expression on his brother’s face was all ‘The Thinker’, possibly ‘The Conspirator’. Alan had the sudden impression that he was going to be dragged into something he wasn’t sure he was going to like.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that our older brothers need a break as much as we do.”

“Gordon-“

He held up his hand again and a smile curved his lips. “Trust me.”

Alan sighed inside.

He did.

That was the problem.

-o-o-o-

TBC

[causewealwayshaveeachother]

CONFRONTING ALEX ABOUT HIS SECRET GIRLFRIEND?!?! 🤭😱🛑 LIVE! NOT CLICKBAIT

LAST VIDEO: We discovered Alex has been SNEAKING OUT to meet up with his SECRET GIRLFRIEND!!!!!

In today's exclusive livestream we confront him about the DECEPTION and BETRAYAL!!!!!!!! Going live at 12:30 PM today!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mercer Family is one of many multi-million-subscriber family youtube channels on YouTube. It documents the lives of Diane and Charles, and their two children, Alex and Annabelle. They definitely don't have a third child who got a restraining order as soon as they went off to college, and while we're here, their son is also definitely 100% straight.

finally living up to the level of stupid to be expected from "it came to me in a dream" (not a joke; it did)

teaser trailer for an au that may end up just being a pile of plot summary but isn't that what aus are all about anyway?

ao3 tags: family youtube channel au, Crack, i think, it's legally crack if it's a ridiculous premise played straight right, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Panic Attacks, Gay Alex Mercer (Julie and The Phantoms), Coming Out, Bad Parenting

wordcount: 1109

Head-on shot centering a blonde boy in his teens lounging on a chair. He is looking to the side, head propped up on his fist, and seems bored and irritated. One of his arms is draped over the back of the chair, and his fingers fidget against each other. He is wearing a black snapback, zip-convert pants, a pink sweatshirt and a ripped jean jacket. (ALEX MERCER)

A voice comes from off-camera. (DIANE MERCER, ALEX'S MOTHER)

DIANE MERCER (OVER-ACTED AND DRAMATIC)

Alex, do you know why we want to talk to you?

ALEX MERCER (FLAT TONE)

No.

DIANE MERCER (OVER-ACTED AND DRAMATIC)

Do you have anything you might want to share with us?

Alex rolls his eyes slightly.

ALEX MERCER (FLAT TONE)

No.

DIANE MERCER (OVER-ACTED AND DRAMATIC)

This is your last chance to just come clean!

ALEX MERCER (UNDER HIS BREATH)

Okay.

Alex turns his head to look directly at the camera.

ALEX MERCER (FLAT TONE)

I'm gay.

Alex stands up and books it out of the room. A gasp comes from behind the camera and the feed abruptly cuts off.

--

Alex walked swiftly down the rain-slick sidewalk towards the studio, duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Raindrops fell lightly around him, dampening his shoulders and hat. His breath came quickly, and his hands shook, and his feet fell heavy against the ground. He tried to time his breathing to his footsteps, focus on the steady one-two-one-two-one-two and block out anything else. The studio was a 20 minute walk away. He had been walking for five minutes. The studio was 15 minutes away.

Alex being gay wasn't news to his parents. It wasn't even, particularly, a problem to them, on a moral level. He was welcome to run around kissing whatever guys he wanted, so long as it never made it back to anyone who reported on the goings-ons of the members of the Mercer Family Youtube Channel. Because having a gay son wasn't nearly as marketable to Family Youtube audiences as having a rebellious, straight, fuckboy son.

Alex stuck his free hand in his pocket, clenching the other harder around the duffel strap, and walked faster, trying to force the panic attack he could feel approaching down through the slap of his feet against the concrete.

The studio was 12 minutes away.

Alex could feel his jaw clenching, his brow furrowing, with anger. Because what the fuck right did his parents have to exploit him and his siblings, make them spend hours acting out "caught on camera!" clickbait videos until it looked just the right balance of perfect and unplanned, make up secret fake girlfriends and set up elaborate photoshoots and then fucking- try and make him pretend to admit to having a secret fake girlfriend who doesn't exist! Who they made up for him! On live camera, for "authenticity" like the fact that they're doing it live is gonna hide how fucking staged the whole goddamn thing blatantly is.

Running around the house with cameras all day filming him and his little sister just trying to live their goddamn lives, making them pretend to break rules so they could pretend to get in trouble so they could pretend to be being punished so they could post it on youtube. Who even knew what would happen if they actually broke the rules. It'd probably still end up on youtube, they'd just have to spend 6 fucking hours reenacting any part they managed to do out of view of one of the billion cameras they've got filming every goddamn room of the house.

Alex blew through the doors of the studio, past the chairs under the loft where Bobby and Reggie were tuning their instruments, past the couch where Luke was looking up at him from the song book, directly into the bathroom. He slammed the door, locked it, and sank down against it, directly into a panic attack.

--

Bobby and Reggie exchanged glances, putting their guitars down and crossing to sit with Luke on the couch. "What do you think happened?" Bobby asked, lowering his voice like Alex might hear them through his panic attack. Reggie hated this part of being friends with Alex - knowing he was just a wall away, hurting, but not able to help - knowing if he tried he'd only make it worse. Having to just wait it out and hug him after.

"Didn't his parents want him to do some youtube thing today? He said he'd be like an hour late." Luke glanced at the bathroom, then his gaze jittered over to the clock as his face twisted with concern. "It's been, like, 10 minutes." His knee shook up and down and his fingers tapped at his biceps. Reggie leaned his shoulder against Luke's, and on his other side he saw Bobby casually folding his legs pulling his legs up onto the couch and crossing them crossing his legs so his knee pressed into the side of Luke's thigh.

"It was a livestream," Reggie piped up. Now he remembered - Alex's parents wanted to do a livestream for "authenticity". Alex hadn't said what for, he didn't think. "Maybe he got- like, a surprising question he didn't know how to answer...?"

"Yeah, I mean, a livestream's gotta be pretty stressful," Bobby agreed. He leaned forward to look at Reggie. "Do you remember if he said what it was about?"

Reggie shook his head. "He just said it was a livestream thing." Alex had mentioned it casually as practice was ending a few days ago - "I'm gonna be like an hour late on Saturday, by the way. My parents want me to do a youtube thing? A livestream or something. More authentic if it's in the middle of the day I guess." Luke had given him a little light-hearted shit about skipping practice to be a hotshot youtube star, and Alex had snapped back lightheartedly enough. It hadn't seemed like Alex was expecting it to be a big deal, but then again, it never did, did it?

The three boys sat on the couch for another twenty minutes before they heard the toilet flush and the sink running in the bathroom. Then, Alex emerged. Shaky and pale, damp strands of hair hanging around his face, but brow set in determination. "Hey, bud," Luke began, probably about to attempt delicacy in asking what the fuck happened, but Alex spoke over him, staring fixedly at the Sunset Curve banner hanging across the room.

"I'm gonna sue my parents for emancipation. Because fuck this." He turned to them, a hysterical grin starting to pull across his mouth, chest beginning to shake with laughter. "I just came out as gay on livestream. Fuck everything. Can an emancipated minor take custody of an eight-year-old?"

[ourstarscollided]

jatp fanworks appreciation - day 1 (writers)

motivation - so in true me fashion and my aversion to brevity, i've made three (3) posts (see also artists, gifs/edits) to celebrate the wonderful people in this fandom who have made my jatp tumblr experience what it is; a community of people who simply shout into the void about their love of a ghost band and their fearless female leader. i've enjoyed simply being on the sidelines admiring everyone's love for the show, but i thought this would be a good time to really show my appreciation for all these wonderful people, because if i've learned anything from this pandemic, it's that there is NEVER a wrong time to tell someone that they are simply ✨the best✨.

disclaimer: i don't interact with most of these people personally and i simply absorb their content from afar and scream about how wonderful they are in the tags.

This list kind of became a fic rec, so if you're looking for some wonderful fics to read (or reread), I've also included my favs from the author here as well.

Okay this is gonna get a little long so please bear with me. But I just wanted to preamble this by saying that the fanfiction written by the jatp fandom is what resparked my love for reading fiction after about 3-4 years of not reading for leisure (be an adult they said. it'll be fun they said.). So I'm really grateful for that? I don't interact with a lot of people, just because it makes me a little anxious, but I will constantly yell about your content in the tags as if I were on a set of bleachers with a megaphone.

I also know there are so many wonderful fic writers out there (on Tumblr and not on Tumblr) that make amazing pieces of work, and this is just a tiny peek into that, and is not at all conclusive.

Without further ado here are some writers who live rent free in my head, in alphabetical order, so feel free to just skip to your name to avoid my rambling:

@bluefirewrites -> your Merry Ex-Mas fic had me on the edge of my seat every single time you updated. I am so in love with how you wrote the characters into this and at how many words you churned out for this fic. This was filled with so much adventure, and it was really welcome during a time when the world wasn't allowed to travel. And I simply love all the other drabbles and fics you write, but I especially enjoy the hilarity of Ray Molina, Crime Scene Photographer and Matchmaker.

@captainkippen -> I'm pretty sure Love Drunk was one of the first fics I ever read in this fandom. Your stories and your writing feel so goddamn real and I find myself so immersed in the worlds that you've created. I have reread most of your jatp fics and I still manage to find myself stupidly grinning at my phone each time. Your stories flow so easily and are such perfect characterizations of the characters we know from the show, but elevated to fit into your verse. I cannot say enough how wonderful your writing is and how talented you are!! (also a slight nudge that I am still very much following along with The Key and the Crown and I hope you continue it!)

@catty-words -> Your???? Exhaustive??? Music??? Lists???? The amount of work and dedication and microanalyzing that you put into pulling out every detail from each scene is so admirable. You not only manage to find the details, but you also give us EVIDENCE via your intricately selected gifs. You could've just put the video of the performance, but no, you take your time to find that specific 1 second shot to emphasize your point. And your little fics that you sometimes throw out into the world? They're so beautiful, and so fun to read and I enjoy them so much! (I am STILL screaming about this band's a snack) Thank you for validating my yelling in the tags, and for feeding my hyperfixation to this show. (I'm sad these lists are ending soon, but it's about the journey ya know?)

@lydias--stiles -> I don't even know what to say here because I've yelled so much about your fics that I feel like there's really nothing else to yell. Your Road Trip AU was also one of the first ones I read in this fandom, and really just made me go absolutely feral. Pretty sure I absorbed the rest of your fics in an ungodly amount of time and I just simply think you are incredibly skilled and talented. Every time you post a new fic I always wonder what it's like to be in your head because the ideas you come up with are so unique and so well thought out. Thank you for all the art you create for this show, I will constantly be in awe of you. (Special shoutout to the 5+1 fic that became a 31 chapter monster)

@pearlcaddy -> This list would not be complete if I didn't mention you. First of all, thank you for suggesting this wonderful week, it has been so lovely to see so much love being spread around today. Secondly, I never thought I'd find myself reading a Buffy or a Wizarding World crossover fic, considering I know nothing about those two things. And yet I found myself on various nights after work at 3 in the morning just silently screaming and/or crying into my phone. Your writing is so insane. Your world building is so insane. Your banter/dialogue is insane. The way you capture the love between Julie/Luke in different universes is so perfect. Thank you for gifting us these beautiful pieces of art, and I hope you know that you have at least made one person (me) a very happy reader. I also really admire your dedication to "this will only be a oneshot", only to write like 4 other POVs for it. (Special shoutout to 100 Bad Days)

@ruzek-halstead -> Literally every single fic you have written lives rent free in my head. The way you've managed to build this universe of different Julies and Lukes, and each one still captures the essence of them is astounding. You've extended their characters beyond what we know from the show and I am just in awe of everything you write. Please know that dead of night is both triggering to me and yet the most hilarious thing I have read. (Special shoutout to the Fake Dating Christmas AU and of course the Cinderella Story AU)

@serendipitee -> Your stories and your writing are absolutely magical. I think Write It Down was one of the first multi-chapter fics that I followed super closely and whenever you updated, I would literally drop what I was doing and read it instantly. You have such a way of building the plot and the characters for all of your fics and drabbles, and making the reader just want more. Please know that I am so obsessed with Oh, She Waltzed With the Dead and I cannot wait to see where you take the story!

@sunsetcurbed -> I have no words for your writing. I am simply in awe every time I read something from you. The way you've got down Alex and Willie's voice to a tee is so crazy good. You write their characters and their stories with such grace and care, especially with how you approach the topic of mental health. Thank you for all the research you do and for also writing in your own experiences. I literally binged the Princes Diaries AU during work and lost a good half day to it, and I regret nothing because that fic left me in SHAMBLES. I secretly adore the way you say you're going to keep a fic short, and end up writing an insane amount of words for it. (I have not yet left my obligated long-ass comment on Chapter 4 of the College AU yet because I am still processing the fate/destiny concept.)

@tangledstarlight -> Gahh. Rosie. Please. This is going to sound a little repetitive considering I just screamed at you last night, but now I guess I will just have to publicly confess my adoration for you!!! Thank you for being my first online friend in a very long time, and for putting up with me yelling at you about everything (and also nothing at the same time). I can't believe all it took was one message about your Royals AU for you to post it, but I will gladly take that credit any day. You are so so so incredibly talented with your writing, and your ability to transport me to another world while I read your fics is unparalleled. I adore the way you can come up with a new story to write every day, and then proceed to throw it into your pot of other WIPs. I am so so so so lucky to have gotten to know you and am incredibly grateful that I now have someone to cry about everything with 🧡 (If you read anything from Rosie, you need to read her Seasons/Long Distance Juke "friendship" fic and the Reggie x Photography oneshot that made me bawl my eyes out.)

@thedeathdeelers -> No thoughts. Just soulmates. Jk jk, you know I love your Reggie x Ray x Carlos fics, and I will scream in the tags about it until the day I get more of those fics from you. This is lowkey a threat, but wrapped in kindness. You are so wonderful to see on my dash (albeit scary at times because of the sheer amount of headcanons and theories running through your head), but you radiate such positive energy that it's impossible to not want to jump in and scream about soulmates with you.

Some special mentions to fics that also live rent free in my head:

@sunsetsandcurves wrote a Willex Cruise Ship AU inspired by a Simple Plan song and it’s something I never knew I needed until I read it. 

@phantom-curve wrote a Juke fic based off of Coney Island and I would just like to say, yes, it did shatter me. (Here’s the fluff sequel that makes up for it though)

@unsaidjulie wrote the Juke dog fic of my dreams and I simply cannot express how much I want the Molina’s to have a dog now. 

@pawprinterfanfic managed to get me incredibly invested in a Star Wars AU even though I know absolutely nothing about Star Wars. I just know that I would die for two (2) space boys. 

@sanssssastark  your Later universe made me realize that I do very much want there to be more mature content for this fandom (and you constantly deliver).

@theobligatedklutz wrote a Tangled Willex AU that makes me screech every time there’s an update. Just read it.

@alexthedrummerboy your talent knows no bounds when it comes to your Social Media AU. Also she’s written ORIGINAL songs for Alex and Willie?!?!?! 

@gennified has this really wonderful modern take on pride and prejudice for Willex and I’m so obsessed with how much miscommunication there is.

@bananaleaves okay, I just found your Tumblr today, and I know you don’t know me in any capacity, but allow me to scream about THIS FIC RIGHT HERE. If anyone in this fandom is to read ANYTHING, it’s this fic. This was one of the best things I’ve read in a long time and absolutely wrecked me. Please just read this.

This turned out WAY longer than it was supposed to, and I’m SO SORRY. (I also tried to make sure I got everyone’s pronouns right, so PLEASE let me know if they’re wrong!) A final sincere thank you to everyone in this fandom who writes. Your talent knows no bounds. Gonna stop talking now before this becomes an essay....

[uswntpoet]

Love on the brain (Part 12)

Hey guys, this one gets a tad intense, hope you enjoy the chapter :D as always, sorry for any mistakes!

The chapter is also up on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17576201/chapters/42849599

“Guys do we have time to take a break? I really need to make a call.” Kelley asks stressed out. The meeting started really early in the morning and she hasn’t spoken to Alex for two and a half days.

“We really need to get this finished. It will only take a few more minutes. After that you’re free, if that’s okay with you?” one of the associates answers, distracted by some paper he’s reading.

“Yeah, sure…” Kelley answers defeated. However, minutes turn into hours and before she even realizes it, it got dark outside again. Kelley looks out the window of the conference room absentmindedly.

“KELLEY?” a loud voice yells.

“Hmm?” she says, turning her head quickly.

“Everything okay? I’ve been calling your name like 4 times.”

“Uhh, yes sorry. I just-“

“I know, we are tired too, but I know what will wake you up again.” one of her attorneys smiles.

“What will, Matt?” Kelley asks blankly.

“Tonight is the sponsor’s party! Good chance for you to talk to some people.” he says excitedly.

“I think I’ll pass on that.” Kelley grumbles.

“Actually, you can’t. It’s obligatory. They want to promote their product with this party. So you better put on a big smile.” Matt argues.

“Consider it done, Matt.” Kelley says, putting on a huge fake smile, which disappears immediately.

“I’m sorry, Kel. I know you should have stayed in New York, but this is a huge chance.”

“No, I know. And I really appreciate it. I’m sorry Matt. I know you had to leave your family as well. Thanks for your good work.”

“Don’t thank me for that. I’m happy to work for you and if I wasn’t, you’d still pay me.”

Kelley laughs out loud, causing Matt to chuckle. He’s happy to see her like that. Ever since Kelley arrived in LA, this is the first time he has seen her laugh, which is very untypical.

“I feel your pain. My wife wasn’t happy either, but you’re going to sort it out. You’re a good person, Kel.” he says, putting his hand on her shoulder and smiling at her sadly, before leaving the conference room.

“How many minutes until we leave?” Kelley yells after him, realizing that she is the only one in the room.

“Uber has been waiting outside for 10 minutes!” she hears him yell back. Kelley groans loudly, hitting her head against the desk, before jumping up to follow Matt.

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Alex is lying in bed, having a hard time finding any sleep. Kelley hasn’t reached out for more than two days, excluding the evening of their fight and it’s starting to get unbearable. Every single one of her thoughts revolves around Kelley and if she’s okay. Since she isn’t able to sleep anyway, Alex opens Instagram to pass some time. After 20 minutes or so, she refreshes the feed on more time, before meaning to close the App. That’s when Ken’s Instagram story pops up. Alex clicks on the button without hesitation and a video starts playing. However, she’s disappointed to see that it’s just a video of a party and Kelley isn’t in sight. Nonetheless, something catches her eye.

“Why is Ken at a BMW event?” Alex asks herself. She types BMW USA in the search bar and sees that they posted a story as well. The first video is showing the party and a few pictures of famous guests follow, which Alex taps on to skip them. After a few taps Kelley’s face appears on her display and she let’s out a deep breath of relieve, she didn’t know she was holding. Kelley looks really good, but also stressed and super tired, which she tries to hide with a gorgeous smile. A smile, which Alex knows is totally fake. It’s her media smile. The smile she perfected for days when she’s sick and has to do interviews or for the children, waiting in line for her to sign anything after lost games. A live video comes up, which was posted 25 minutes ago, showing a 360-degree view of the event and what Alex sees next must be some kind of sick joke. Her eyes begin to water with tears. The video shows Kelley standing at the bar with a drink in hand. Suddenly, a very beautiful woman approaches her and puts her arm around her, whispering something in her ear. Kelley looks at her and says something back, which makes the woman laugh in response. They then exchange a few words. Ultimately, the pretty blonde then leans in to whisper something in her ear again, pulling away and winking at Kelley. This time Kelley is the one to laugh, a genuine laugh, not a faked laugh and the video ends. Alex feels like throwing up and the tears are rolling down her face relentlessly. She locks her phone, not wanting to see the video again and tries to sleep, whishing she wouldn’t have opened the damn story. 15 minutes later, Alex’s sobs are interrupted by the buzzing of her phone. She blindly fishes for it and turns it around. Her heart aches when she reads the name on the screen. Kelley. Alex shakes her head and rejects her call, not wanting to talk to her. Just two seconds later her phone starts buzzing again, but she rejects it again. Kelley tries to call her non-stop and after the 6th time Alex picks up, but remains silent.

“Helloo? Alexx?” Kelley slurs. Her voice sounds totally drunk and desperate. Alex feels her eyes filling with tears again. The way Kelley is saying her name and her drunkenness making her feel sick to her stomach. Something must have happened and after seeing the video with the woman, Alex doesn’t even want to know.

“I don’t want to talk to you. Stop calling me.” Alex sobs and hangs up. Her phone immediately starts buzzing again. Kelley’s face appears on her screen, one of Alex’s favorite pictures of her, which she took herself. Seeing her smile only twists the knife, which is why she turns off her phone.      

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kelley feels more and more miserable every passing minute that she has to stay at the party. When people talk to her or photos are taken, she puts on the best fake smile she can muster up, knowing that no one is going to notice anyway. After some very important socializing, she takes a break from walking around and sits down at the bar.

“What can I do for you?” a man in a tuxedo asks her.

“I need a whisky.”

“Would you prefer a specific brand?”

“Just pour me the biggest glass you have of the one that has the most alcohol in it.” Kelley says numbly. The barkeeper stops and looks at her for a second, but continues nonetheless.

“As you wish.” he says professionally. When the glass is put in front of her, Kelley takes a sip, feeling the liquid burn in her throat. She looks at the glass briefly and then puts it to her mouth again, downing it in one go.

“I need another one. And could you do me a favor and just keep them going?” she asks the barkeeper, who nods shortly. A few glasses later, Kelley still sits at the bar, drink in hand, staring through the room with dull, glazed eyes, her jaw tightened. She feels the alcohol kicking in and the pain in her chest starts to feel a little less heavy, as well as her thoughts, which begin to drive her completely insane. The taunting voices in her head getting quieter with every sip. Suddenly, she feels an arm around her shoulder.

“What’s up, not having fun?” the woman whispers empathically. Kelley looks at her and sees that it’s Linda, who works for BMW and initiated the whole sponsoring and partnership. Kelley gives her a tightlipped smile, a real one, but still one that looks piteous.  

“Yeah, no. Aawesome party, thankss Linda. But I reeally miss my fiancée. I didn’t leave on ssuch good terms. I think I ffucked up royally. Ssorry, that was inappropriate.”

She tries to sound as sober as possible. After she already screwed up with Alex, she doesn’t want to screw up the sponsorship as well. Linda laughs loudly.

“That’s okay. If I’m honest, I really hate those people, who pretend like they’re robots just because I made them sign a contract with me. You seem to be a good person, Kelley.”

“That’s the ssecond time I heard that today and I ccertainly didn’t act like it a ffew daays ago.” Kelley mentions with a self-loathing chuckle.

“I think you should talk to her as soon as possible. When my husband and I fight over long distance, it always gets worse without communication. I’m sure your fiancée will forgive you eventually.”

“Yeah…thanks.” Kelley smiles sadly.

“Okay and now go to your hotel.”

“Whaaat? Nooo, this par-ty is to promote the product, I sshhould be sstaying.”

“Kelley, I’m the boss here. Trust me, you should go.”

Kelley looks at her skeptically, which causes Linda to come closer and whisper into her ear again.

“These parties suck anyway, I’m just waiting to go home to my husband and kids.” Linda winks at her, when she pulls away. Kelley laughs loudly, throwing her head back, a genuine laugh, not a faked laugh.

“Thh-anks Linda. For everything.” Kelley smiles at her. Linda nods at her.

“The pleasure is ours.” she says, holding out her hand for Kelley to shake. Kelley stands up and shakes Linda’s hand, but before she can leave Linda stops her.

“I think you should leave that here.” she says, pointing to the glass in Kelley’s hand that’s still full of whiskey.

“Yyou’re right…I sshhould.” Kelley nods meaningfully and leaves.

“I think you saved her from an awful morning, Linda.” the barkeeper says.

“Oh no, that’s all you. Thanks for telling me, Parker.” Linda says to the barkeeper.

On her way out Kelley smashes into someone.

“Keeelley, I searched for you everywhere! How are you?”

“Ken!! Duuude, fin-ally yyou’re here. Wwere you able to-“

Ken holds up a box in response, which makes Kelley calm down. When Matt told her that Ken wouldn’t be in LA for another day, Kelley immediately instructed Matt to tell Ken to somehow buy her a new phone and bring it to LA as soon as humanly possible.

“Ken, yyyou’re a legend!”

“Kelley? Are you drunk? You smell like an alcoholic.”

“Alexx nd I got into a ffight.”

“Oh, so that’s why she called me.”

“Sshe called you? Duude, I have to get to my h-hotel room and ffind my SIM card.” Kelley slurs, pushing past him and jogging towards the exit.

“What? Hey Kelley wait!!!” Ken calls after her, but she is already too far away. Kelley sprints to her hotel room, which is further away than she initially thought. Much further. After a 30-minute spontaneous intoxicated marathon, Kelley arrives in front of her hotel room out of breath. She fumbles for her keys and opens the door hectically, starting to rummage through her stuff to find her old phone. After a few minutes, the new phone finally is ready and starts buzzing non-stop. Hundreds of missed calls and messages appear on her display, most of them from Alex and they’re not very happy messages. Kelley scrolls through them, reading things like: ‘I HATE YOU!!’, ‘You can sleep on the couch for the next year!!’ and ‘I miss you, I’m sorry.’, followed by ‘You can kiss my fucking ass Kelley O’Hara!!!”.

Kelley hastily dials Alex’s number.

“Pick up, pick up, pick up!!” she prays, but feels her heart sink, when her call gets rejected. She dials again and again, not giving up.

“C-ome on, Alexxx. Don’t llleave me hangin’” she slurs. That’s when Alex actually picks up, but all Kelley hears is silence.

“Helloo? Alexx?” Kelley slurs desperately, surprised that she actually picked up.

“I don’t want to talk to you. Stop calling me.” Alex sobs with a heartbreaking voice and hangs up. Kelley feels her heart tear into pieces.

“No, no, no, no.” she says, quickly dialing the number again and again, but Alex is not picking up. Just moments later her next call goes to voicemail.

“FUCK!!!” Kelley yells, knowing that she turned her phone off. She punches her first into the mattress repeatedly. She slides down the edge of the bed, pulling her knees to her chest. That’s when her body starts shaking, as the tears roll down her face. The voices begin to set in again. They’re getting louder and louder with each passing second.

‘You’re not good enough for her. Can’t you see what you did?’

“Stop it Kelley.” she whispers to herself desperately, but the voices keep on going. She puts her hands over her ears, the tears streaming down her face and dropping onto her shirt.

‘You hurt her. She’s crying because of you. Suffering, because of you. What can you offer her?’

“Fucking stop it!” she says louder, pressing her hands to her ears tighter. She closes her eyes and scrunches up her face in utter despair, rocking back and forth.

‘You’re stupid enough to think she wants you? She doesn’t even want you to call her! She’s better off without you, happier!’ the voices getting deafening loud. Kelley bites her teeth together.

‘What are you going to do next? Hit her instead of the wall? You’re dangerous. Get your temper under control for once.’

“NO!!! I won’t ever!!!! I will never do that!! I’ll change!!! Please, just make it stop.” Kelley yells loudly, letting out heartbreaking sobs.

‘Look at you. Who could love you? Drinking away your pain. You’re piteous, you’re nothing. She fucking hates you’

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!!” Kelley screams earsplittingly, as if in enormous pain and suddenly everything goes black.

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Kelley wakes up with a jolt. There is hectic movement around her and she hears loud beeping. She gasps for air. There is a mask sitting on her face. Her eyes wander around panicked. Everything is blurry and the voices around her are getting louder and louder. She tries to focus her eyes really hard, so she can see clearly. Her breathing is speeding up and her chest feels like something is pushing a huge amount of weight onto her. She moves her arms to try to get rid of the weight that has been placed there, but her hands just feel her shirt. Where is this pressure coming from?

“It’s okay, Kelley. Please try to stay calm. I’m Dr. Collins. You’ll be fine.” an unfamiliar voice tells her. Kelley nods panicked, her heartrate speeding up. She can feel her heartbeat pulsing in her ears and her breathing picks up even more. The voices that were loud and clear just seconds ago, start turning into muffled sounds and before Kelley can say anything, everything turns black again.

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This time waking up feels a lot calmer. A soft and steady beeping and no movement at all. Kelley opens her eyes and after blinking a few times, she can see clearly again. She is met with Ken looking at her with pity in his eyes.

“Kel?” he asks carefully.

“Where-where am I?” Kelley asks confused and disoriented, her voice hoarse.

“You’re in the hospital.”

“What?? What happened??” she asks with a weak voice.

“I found you hyperventilating in your hotel room. I followed you, because I thought something was off. You had a nervous breakdown caused by sleep deprivation and stress. Plus drinking your own weight and not eating anything for over two days doesn’t really go together perfectly.”

“Jesus Christ.” Kelley puffs out, looking up at the ceiling overwhelmed.

“Yeah…”

“Please don’t tell me you called Alex.”

“I did.”

“Nooo!” she groans, closing her eyes.

“I did, but she didn’t pick up, her phone must have been turned off.”

“Jesus, thank god!” she exhales.

“I left a message though.”

“Ugghh, damn it! I hope you didn’t call TMZ as well.” Kelley jokes sarcastically.

“Kelley that’s not funny. What’s wrong with you? That’s not you.”

“No Ken, that’s exactly me.” Kelley says bitterly.

“What are you talking about?!”

“It is. That’s me without Alex.” Kelley says looking at Ken frustrated.

“No, it isn’t. Kelley, I know you for 3 and a half years and I’ve never seen you like this. That was brutal.”

“I know.” Kelley nods soberly. Ken throws her a worried look.

“Ken, I am nothing without her.”

“That’s such bullshit, you were someone before her.”

“Yes, I was. I was an empty shell. Always laughing, but never feeling it. I didn’t like, who I was before her and I don’t want to become that again. Because that’s who you saw. Someone, who doesn’t care, someone, who is reckless, someone, who does those self-destructive things. I know it may seem like she caused that. But, Ken, she didn’t. It’s her absence that caused that and that’s my fault, I pushed her away.”

Ken looks at her pensively. Kelley looks back intensely, stressing her next words with an urgency that underlines the importance of them.

“Ken, listen. This. Is. My. Fault. Do you understand?”

Ken nods understandingly, his forehead creased. The importance of what Kelley is trying to say sinking in.

“Before Alex and I got close, my mom regularly found me with those nervous breakdowns, because I just felt numb and I wanted to feel something so desperately. Whenever I had a breakdown, those voices started in my head, telling me that I was worth nothing. And when Alex and I got closer it stopped. From one day to the next, it just stopped. The last time that happened was when I was 21. This has never happened when we got into a fight. I guess, I thought I lost her for good and it triggered these old patterns. Ken, I know I found something greater in Alex, I found purpose. She gave me the strength to realize, who I was and who I wanted to become. So, I continued to work on myself and it made me a better person. She made me and continues to make me feel, which is something I didn’t know how to do properly. So, don’t tell me that this is wrong. You don’t understand what she means to me and how she makes me feel. She makes me want to constantly work on becoming the most perfect girlfriend, fiancée and hopefully wife in this entire world, because that’s what she deserves and that’s what she is to me. But there are days I will fail and I just had a few of them.”

“Well, sounds like I should tell the doctor you suffer from love on the brain.” Ken smiles.

“Yeah, that’s what it is.” Kelley smiles.

[sapphicscholar]

Ok I know you're busy but please please please write whatever pairing you want for the post of the person who is advertising their services as being a terrible date to your family Thanksgiving dinner. No rush. Whenever you want. IF you want. Your life things absolutely come first

This has now been posted to AO3 here!

-Refers to this post  (text is there, but I changed to better match the situation/add in a joke or two)

A/N: This is set before the sort of reconciliation we get between Eliza and Alex (for reasons, even though other things have already happened that canonically take place post-reconciliation and really the timeline is all sorts of fucked but I’m beyond sleep-deprived), and since I’m writing from Alex’s POV, their relationship will sound pretty shitty, though it’s not the focus here. Also, this is pure crack–probably fairly terrible crack. In case anyone worried it would be serious….

Chapter Text

Knitting her eyebrows together in confusion, Alex reread at the vague subject line in her inbox: “Saw this, thought of you.” Knowing it was from Lucy already had her on high alert—the last time she’d unthinkingly opened a link from one of her emails at work, she’d ended up with the video for “Dick in a Box” playing at full volume to the surprise (and amusement) of her DEO recruits. But, since she was at home and more than a little curious, she clicked on the link, finding herself on a Craigslist ad that read:

“It’s Thanksgiving. Want to skip that long, insulting conversation about how youre still single? About how your parents really want more grand children? Well, look no further!

I am a 29 year old ex-con (long story, don’t worry, I’m plenty friendly!) with no family to worry about and a dirty pickup truck one year younger than me painted with some Scissor Sisters album cover artwork (there when I got it, but I like it too much to change it). I can play anywhere between the ages of 25 and 35 depending on hair and makeup. I’m a bartender and work late nights. If you’d like to have me as your strictly platonic date for Thanksgiving, but have me pretend to be in a very long or serious relationship with you, to torment your family, I’m game.

I can do these things, at your request: • Openly hit on other female guests while you act like you don’t notice• Start instigative discussions about politics and/or religion (I prefer to play the flaming liberal atheist, but can adapt depending on how promising the dessert selection will be and how much it would piss off your shitty family)• Propose to you in front of everyone (I’ve got a cheap ring and all)• Pretend to be really drunk as the evening goes on (sorry, I don’t really drink much anymore, but I used to. A lot. too much in fact… I know the drill)• Start an actual, physical fight with a family member, either inside or on the front lawn for all the neighbors to see (I require advance warning if I’m not to harm them in any real way or leave marks)

I require no pay but the free meal I will receive as a guest!”

Scowling, Alex switched over to email and sent back: “What the hell, Lane?”

Mere seconds later a reply came back in: “Morning to you too, Alex! You said you didn’t want to deal with your mom and your sister’s shitty boyfriend alone again so… voila! A solution—and it’s free.”

“I’m not going to hire an escort service,” Alex shot back.

“She says ‘strictly platonic,’ so it’s really not an escort service. And you’re not paying her, just feeding her. C’mon, think of all the joy those stories could bring to me, your dear friend, your oldest friend.”

“You arrested me for treason.”

“Hey look! Something you two have in common. You could totally bond about being ex-cons together.”

“Fuck off.”

“Do it!”

“No.”

Alex was ready to leave the conversation at that, but when she made it into the DEO, she found Lucy, a wide grin on her face and an extra coffee in her hand waiting for her in her lab. “So, I know you think it’s a bad idea, but here’s why you should do it.” She paused, waiting for Alex’s objections. When the woman just arched an eyebrow and glared, she kept going. “First of all, Eliza always wants to know why you don’t bring anyone home. You get the speech about how you went through all that effort to come out, and now you’re still single, Alexandra. Why? Second, Vas’s parents had to cancel last minute, so we’re gonna come crash the Danvers Thanksgiving extravaganza and would love to have some front row seats to this. Third, you know you’ve wanted to punch Mike since the moment he and Kara got together, and now someone is willing to do it for free. Do you understand how few things in life are genuinely free?”

“It won’t be free because you know the consequences will haunt me forever.”

“Danvers. Have I ever asked you for anything in my life?”

“So many things.”

“Hmm, I don’t recall those things. So you should say yes to this one.”

“Why are you so adamant?”

“No reason,” Lucy shrugged, a smirk playing at her lips as she feigned nonchalance, examining her perfectly manicured nails.

“Lucy,” Alex growled. “What did you do?”

“Nothing…I just, well, maybe I emailed her.”

“To say hello?”

“Yep, just emailed her to say hey.” A beat. “She can’t wait to meet you on Thursday!”

“Lucy!” Alex yelled, taking off after Lucy who had high-tailed it out of the lab. “Get your ass back in here!”

“Agent Danvers, is there a problem?” J’onn asked when Alex nearly collided with him.

“No, sir, nothing at all. I just have a few…follow up questions for Lucy.”

“It will have to wait. Supergirl just called in for backup on a situation developing downtown.”

With a nod, Alex resigned herself to waiting to exact her revenge on Lucy and cancel on whatever ex-con she’d found her for Thanksgiving. Of course, she reasoned, it might be amusing to see how her mother would react… Sure, she might not be able to compete with Kara, who could seemingly do no wrong, but surely she could be better than this internet chick. And bringing her would most definitely piss off her mother…

—

With a tumbler of top-shelf whiskey in front of her (courtesy of Lucy), Alex tilted her head to the side. “You’ll be there if anything goes horribly wrong?”

“I think you, Agent Badass, can more than handle it.” Lucy grinned at Alex over the rim of her own glass, far too excited about the prospect of her actually taking this mystery Craigslist woman to Thanksgiving dinner.

“Ah, but you forget I don’t really do family holidays sober. Still have a mean right hook, but it’d be nice to have backup.”

“Fine, yes, Vas and I will be there for you the whole day.”

“And you’ll take the blame if it goes horrifically wrong?”

“What? That wasn’t part of the agreement.”

“It is if you want me to actually agree this time.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Lucy finally nodded. “Alright, Danvers, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Fine,” Alex sighed, resigning herself to her fate. If nothing else, it would at least provide her with stories for years to come (and, if she were lucky, maybe even get her disinvited from future family holidays).

“Perfect, she’ll pick you up at 3.”

“Wait, you gave her my address?”

“Love ya too, Alex!” Lucy yelled, grabbing for her coat and making for the entrance before Alex could change her mind yet again.

—

2:50pm on Thanksgiving found Alex pacing back and forth in the lobby of her building. She hadn’t even wanted this woman—Maggie, apparently—to know where she lived, but since Lucy had already given up that information she was at least going to keep her from getting all the way up to her apartment. A ping from her phone finally drew her attention away from the door.

“Almost here. Is family there? Should I be a real dick and honk from the street?”

Smiling in spite of herself, Alex sent back: “No, just me. I’ll come outside.” Her smile soon vanished and her jaw dropped when she caught sight of Maggie’s truck rolling down her street. True to her word (though Alex might have conveniently forgotten that detail), it was emblazoned with a pair of women’s legs that morphed into scissors, a beam of light refracting through it and splitting off into a rainbow Pink Floyd-style.

“Your chariot awaits, m’lady!” the woman yelled after cranking down her windows, a smirk adorning her face that brought out dimples Alex might have fallen for if she didn’t know they belonged to some weirdo who would advertise her services on Craigslist.

With a nod and grunt of acknowledgment, Alex pulled herself up into the truck, rolling the window back up before turning to face her “girlfriend” for the day.

“So…you always this quiet?” Maggie asked, peeking over at Alex as they crawled their way through holiday traffic.

“No.”

“Cool, cool.” Eventually, tired of the quiet, Maggie spoke up again. “Anything you want me to do or not do today? Who all will be there?”

“Mom—Eliza. My sister Kara—technically foster sister, though she’s obviously the favorite child. Her jackass boyfriend, Mike, and her best friend Winn. I don’t think James is coming this year. Then Lucy and her girlfriend Vasquez.”

“Ah, yes, Lucy’s the one who wrote to me for you!”

“Mm, the very one,” Alex grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling at the traffic as though the sheer force of her glare could make it move faster.

“If you don’t mind my asking, why did you do this? You seem kinda…miserable about the whole ordeal.”

“Lucy.”

“If you’re really not up for it, I can just drop you off and head back home. I mean, okay, yeah, I don’t get my Thanksgiving meal, but I’m not gonna force my delightful company on you.”

“Thanks.” Maggie couldn’t help but notice it was the first time Alex had sounded sincere, and she almost seemed to relax—not quite, but a little. “I’m okay though.”

“Alright, well, you’ve got until the front door to make that decision.”

“No, no. You were promised a Thanksgiving meal, and you’ll get one.” She’d even warned Kara to cook the turkey beforehand lest she accidentally out herself as an alien to yet another person.

“Well, I appreciate it.”

“Yeah,” Alex dismissed the thanks with a shrug and a wave of her hand.

“So, what’s our deal for the day?”

“Oh, um, maybe we’ve been dating for a couple of months—wasn’t super serious at first and didn’t want to say anything just yet?”

“Okay, that works. So no proposal?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Roger that. Now, do you want me to be a total d-bag? Hit on your sister?”

“No! No, there’s no need to remind mom just how much better Kara is than me at everything, including, apparently, attracting my fake girlfriend’s attention.”

Maggie cocked her head to the side, wondering how in the world the gorgeous woman sitting next to her thought she would ever fail to hold someone’s attention. Sure, she could be a little bit of an ass, according to Lucy, but who wasn’t?

“Okay, so, eyes on you and only you. Want me to talk politics? Religion? My former conviction? My lack of career mobility?”

“I don’t know,” Alex sighed, rubbing at her temples and trying to remember why she had agreed to this. Perhaps she thought this woman might deflect attention away from her—be so unsuccessful that Alex’s failure to become a proper medical doctor might be overlooked for a change, be so unappealing as a date that her mom would stop pushing her into relationships, figuring singledom was better than the lowlifes Alex picked up. But this woman was…not quite what she had expected. Sure, she was loud and a little brash—and her pickup truck took both of those to the extreme—but she also seemed fairly considerate, and she was cuter than Alex had expected all dressed up in her holigay best plaid.

“How about we play it by ear? I’m very good at reading people, I’ll have you know.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhm. For instance you are feeling very stressed and wondering why you got into my truck and why you’re bringing some internet stranger to Thanksgiving dinner. I’d put money on the fact that you’re already thinking about how much you’ll regret it and planning ways to exact some revenge on Lucy.”

Alex just pursed her lips, unwilling to admit that it was all rather true.

Grinning at Alex’s silence, which she took as confirmation, Maggie pushed her luck. “Now you’re wondering, ‘However did she get so good at reading people?’ And how is such a gorgeous woman still single, without a line of women to go home with for the holidays.”

“Oh fuck off.”

“She speaks!” Maggie crowed, cackling at the scowl directed her way. “C’mon the whole point of this stunt is to have some fun. Family holidays suck more than just about anything. And this is my irreverent way of saying fuck you to the whole ordeal. Everyone knows the holidays are all about pushing your dirty laundry and your box of vibrators deep into the closet and pretending like you don’t hate each other and everything your conservative uncles stand for while you eat until you can’t taste the bitterness of regret for your life choices anymore, right?”

“That got really bleak, really fast.”

“It’s dark humor, get used to it.”

“Remind me where the joke is.”

“Because you’ll know that everything about today is fake. Having the fake girlfriend there just helps remind you that everyone else’s perfection is a big goddam charade too.”

Alex made a vague noise, still unsure about how she felt about all of this. Rather than contemplate any longer, she turned to Maggie. “So, tell me something about you.”

“Not like I know that much about you.”

“I’m a scientist; that’s all you need to know.” It wasn’t totally true, but it would be fine.

“I doubt it.”

“I like whiskey. And dogs, not that I have time for one. I’m a scientist, not the doctor my mother hoped for. Better?”

“A little. I prefer scotch myself on the rare occasion I splurge. Dogs are clearly superior to cats, so we’re in agreement there for our future dog, ya know, even though it’s only been a couple of months. And I hate doctors, so it’s better this way.”

“All doctors?”

“Doctors, dentists, orthodontists—all the sadists, ya know.”

“Mm, right, right.”

“Yep. So, according to Lucy’s directions, we’re getting close. Any last minute instructions or questions?”

“Uh…no?”

“You don’t sound so certain.”

“Sorry, I just, I hate family things. I know in theory that she loves me, but I just—god, I can’t do another one.”

“Want me to take you home? You can blame me—tell her I let my car insurance expire or something and we got pulled over. Or I got sent to prison again.”

“That’s sweet,” Alex said, “but no, I need to go.”

“Well, at least this year you have an ex-con on your arm.”

“Speak of which…what did you do?”

“Honest answer or the fun answer?”

“Why aren’t they the same?”

“Because it’s more fun for me if I let you think I killed a man and gave all of his money to charitable causes like a veritable 21st century Robin Hood.”

“So you didn’t kill a man?”

“Tragically, no.”

“You gonna tell me what you did?”

“Protesting mainly. So disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, that kind of shit. Not like I’ve got any felonies on the record. But I can if you want to freak out your mom. Or your sister’s boyfriend.”

“Well, if you don’t mind risking another arrest, by all means, please feel free to punch him in the face.”

“That bad?”

“Worse.”

“Yikes.”

Alex just nodded, wrapping her head around the slightly different image of Maggie that was emerging as she learned more and more about the woman. Of course, nothing excused the fact that she was in a tacky pickup truck—not even the dimples and the charm and the deep misanthropy that rivaled her own.

“We’re here,” Alex murmured, taking a deep breath and steeling herself for the inevitable shitshow.

—

“Alex!” Kara squealed, pulling her sister into a big hug like she hadn’t seen her just yesterday.

“Hey, Kara,” Alex laughed, squeezing her once before pulling back. “Maggie, this is my sister Kara. Kara, this is my girlfriend Maggie.”

The theatrical wink Kara shot in her direction had Alex ready to drop her head into her hands, but as her mom strolled across the room she realized it was too late to back out now.

“Did you say girlfriend, Alexandra? Why haven’t I heard anything?”

“Mom, this is Maggie. Maggie, this is my mom, Eliza Danvers.”

“Very nice to meet you—”

“Eliza is fine,” Eliza interjected, sensing the hesitation. “Alex, is it too much to ask that you call me every once in a while? I shouldn’t have to find out about a partner only because I happened to be in town.”

“I’ll do better,” Alex sighed, setting her coat down as her eyes scanned the apartment, looking for where Kara had hidden the good whiskey.

“Well hello there,” Lucy greeted from the doorway, grinning broadly at the sight of Alex standing next to the mystery Craigslist woman looking beyond uncomfortable under Eliza’s scrutiny.

“Lucy! Vasquez!” Kara yelled, running forward to take the mashed potatoes and rolls from their hands.

“I’m beginning to think the excitement was for the food and not for us,” Lucy pouted.

“Aww, you know I love you both equally.”

Rolling her eyes, Lucy turned her attention to Maggie. “Hey, Maggie, how’s it going?”

“So your friends have not only heard about her but met her too?” Eliza asked pointedly.

“Oh, that’s my fault. I’m not always so great at meeting the parents, so I asked her to hold off on saying something.”

Alex tried not to look surprised at the way Maggie had been so quick to stand up for her, forcing herself to nod along with the sentiment while Eliza eyed her curiously.

“Hey, Lucy,” Maggie waved, hoping to break the tension—or, better yet, ignore it entirely.

“This is Vasquez,” Lucy introduced, kicking the door shut behind them as they finally made their way into the apartment. “She really enjoyed your pickup truck—helps the neighborhood aesthetic so much,” Lucy teased.

Figuring Lucy could deal with Maggie now, Alex made her way into the kitchen to find the wine, already anticipating her mother’s comments about how much “fun” she was having.

“She’s cuter than I expected,” Kara whispered, cutting in with a glass before Alex could abscond with the whole bottle.

Alex let out a noncommittal noise while focusing her attention on pouring herself a generous glass.

“I’m just saying—it’s been a while since you dated anyone…”

“I am not going to pick someone up off of Craigslist,” Alex hissed, shaking her head and finally taking a sip of the wine she’d been eying since they walked in the door. “Much better. Now you can deal with mom and the ‘best pie in the galaxy’ while I go have an intimate moment alone with a glass of red.”

“Why don’t you wait for dinner to start drinking, Alex,” came Eliza’s voice. Alex gritted her teeth as she spun around.

“I was under the impression that dinner would be starting soon.”

“Mike’s just running a little late,” Kara explained, shooting Alex an apologetic glance as she made her way back toward the oven where they were keeping the turkey hot.

“So let’s wait to have your fun until then, hmm?”

“Aww, we always have fun, don’t we, babe,” Maggie chimed in, throwing an arm around Alex’s waist and beaming at her as though she hadn’t just stepped into the first of many tense moments to come between mother and daughter. Then again, Alex realized, she had signed up for exactly that. “C’mon, why don’t you give me the grand tour?”

“Yeah, okay,” Alex shrugged, letting herself be guided away from the kitchen and into the living room where Winn and Vasquez had set up some multi-player video game and were currently shoving at each other as they competed both in and out of the game.

“Um, this is the living room…” Alex gestured awkwardly around them before guiding Maggie off to the side. “There’s the bathroom. And through here is Kara’s bedroom.”

“It’s a nice room,” Maggie declared loudly, chuckling at Alex’s startled expression. “Gotta make sure everyone knows we’re just doing a tour, not sneaking off to fuck, ya know.”

Alex glared and shushed Maggie. “Why would anyone think that?”

“Um, cause we’re dating. And it’s boring. And there’s a bed right there.”

“And a room full of people right out there!”

“You hired me to piss off your mom or be the asshole that makes you look good. Do you really have room to judge?”

“Ugh, stop reminding me of what a failure I am.”

“Hey, no, I don’t think you’re a failure at all—that’s not what I said. In fact, I bet you’re anything but. You’re pretty, and you’ve gotta be smart and driven to be a scientist. Your sister looks at you like you’re her goddam hero. And you had a friend concerned enough about your well-being to reach out to some stranger on the internet and subject me to a rather thorough vetting before sending me your address.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Lucy and Vasquez double-teamed me for some interrogation thing. I mean…I won’t lie, it was kinda hot. But also I felt like if I didn’t pass I maybe would’ve disappeared without a trace. I don’t know why, but I feel like they could do that…”

Alex shrugged; she wasn’t wrong. “How’d you get all of that in just a few moments?”

“I’m a bartender. I read people for a living.”

“I guess…”

“So, why don’t you fill in the details I missed?”

“Um, Kara works for CatCo as Cat Grant’s assistant.” Maggie whistled, looking impressed. “My mom’s a scientist as well, Dr. Danvers. So was my dad.”

“Divorce?” Maggie asked.

“Um, no, he died when I was younger.”

“Fuck, Alex, I’m sorry—I didn’t know.”

“It’s fine. Not caring about family is your whole schtick, right?”

“Not caring about my family is my thing. That’s—that’s different.”

“What happened to the whole families suck act from the truck?” Alex teased, trying to move away from the topic of her dad.

“Ah, well, most years I’ve done this, I’ve gone to families as shitty as mine. Sometimes with shitty people as my fake date too, so there’s that.”

“So how do I compare?”

“Significantly less shitty. I mean, your mom’s a little judge-y, but she did pull me aside to ask what my intentions were with you, so she clearly cares.”

“Got a funny way of showing it,” Alex snorted.

“Yeah, but at least she’s showing it at all.”

“What’s the deal with your family?” Alex asked, suddenly curious.

“I don’t have one. Got an aunt I go visit when I can afford it, but otherwise it’s just me.”

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Better off without them.” Seeing the clench to Maggie’s jaw, Alex didn’t push the issue, though she couldn’t help the instinctive anger she felt toward whatever kind of person had left the woman that jaded. She might not get along with her mother, but at the end of the day, at least she knew she was loved, even if it never seemed to come in the way she needed it.

A loud knock on the door pulled their attention away, and Alex sighed loudly as Mike waltzed in, pulling Kara in for a kiss that just seemed inappropriate in front of their friends, but Eliza looked pleased enough to see Kara giggling, so of course now it would be acceptable.

“The boyfriend?” Maggie checked.

“Yep.”

“Should we have put on a show like that?”

“What happened to platonic only?”

“That’s the rule. But I already dislike him enough that I think I could make an exception for a bit of one-upsmanship.”

Alex snickered. “You’re not so bad, you know that?”

“High praise.”

—

The group eventually settled into dinner after an awkward round of toasts that included Mike speaking at great length about what an excellent person he’d become knowing Kara, Alex refusing to speak, Kara attempting to keep the peace, and Maggie giving an effusive speech about how perfect Alex was, including the line: “Best yet, not only is she smokin’ hot, but she’s also really fucking smart,” that had Lucy choking on her wine as she let out a bark of a laugh.

“So, Mark, tell me about yourself,” Maggie said, turning to look at him.

“It’s Mike.”

“Right.”

“Um, I work as an intern at CatCo.”

“Hey, look, babe! Maggie called, patting at Alex’s hand. “I’m not the least impressive person at the table anymore! At least I have a salary!”

“I will have a salary,” Mike protested.

“Yeah, yeah, Matt, whatever you say.”

“It’s not Matt.”

“Right, sorry! Mark—I’ve got it now. Locked in my memory—good as a vault. Mark. Mark, Mark, Mark.” Kara glared. Vasquez bit back a laugh. Lucy snorted into her wine. And Alex slung an arm around the back of Maggie’s chair, thinking this might just be the best idea Lucy ever had. She was definitely enjoying Thanksgiving more than she ever thought was possible.

“So, Mark the intern, tell me more.”

Looking over to Kara for guidance, Mike finally turned back and rolled with it. “Well, I work with Kara.”

“Are you her intern?”

“No, I am not.”

“Gotcha. So is that how you met Kara.”

“Why don’t we talk about you instead,” Kara chimed in, glaring at Alex. She’d been willing to play along but didn’t need to see her boyfriend being attacked all dinner.

“Ah, yes, well, I’m a bartender.”

Kara looked at her expectantly, but Maggie just smiled.

“So how did you two meet?” Mike asked, glad to have the attention off of himself.

“Do you want to tell it or should I, babe?” Maggie asked, looking over at Alex. The panicked glance she got in return was all the answer she needed. “I’ll tell it this time. So, it’s a funny story, right. Cause the first time I see her isn’t quite how we started dating. But I’m driving downtown, and I see this one walking down the sidewalk looking fine as hell in a leather jacket. And I swear, I nearly rear-ended the guy in front of me she had me so love-struck at first sight. But I managed to hit the brakes—couldn’t bear it if something had happened to Gertie—that’s my truck, in case you didn’t get that. She’s a real beauty; you’ll all have to come see her before the night’s over. Anyhow, she probably could’ve survived the crash—really, I could probably hit pretty much anything and you’d never know it. Not that I do,” she added with an exaggerated wink. Alex finished her glass of wine, nearly tipping it completely upside down, while Vasquez dug her nails into Lucy’s thigh to keep her from bursting out in laughter.

“Anyway, I see that she’s going to this coffee shop, so I start popping in just in case—and boom, like an angel, she appears.” But as Maggie got ready to reach the high point of her story—it was gonna be a good one, she could just feel it—a bright flash appeared in the living room, bringing with it a new person, though Alex would bet money he wasn’t human.

Within a moment, the majority of the room had produced guns, batons, and knives from nowhere and stood at the ready, weapons drawn, badges held high, and questions on their lips.

“I come in peace!” the creature yelled, looking beyond intimidated at the less than warm welcome. “But I bring a warning for Kara Zor-El, daughter of Krypton.”

As he turned to look at Kara, Alex swore under her breath, realizing she’d now have to get some random stranger willing to trade fake-dating services for free food on Craigslist to sign extensive nondisclosure agreements. But when she turned she found the woman pointing a gun and holding up a badge of her own.

“NCPD?” Alex hissed, while Kara and Mike moved with the visitor to the living room.

“Well who the hell is gonna let a Craigslist cop crash their Thanksgiving? That sounds like a sting operation if I’ve ever heard one. Besides, you’re not exactly the scientist you told me you were,” Maggie added, gesturing at the baton Alex had pulled from somewhere—where she was keeping it in jeans that skinny, she didn’t even want to guess.

“You’re gonna have some paperwork to fill out,” Alex grumbled.

“Is that about your sister being Supergirl?”

“How in the fuck—?”

“I’m a detective; I detect.”

“So you’re not just a bartender that’s great at reading people?”

“Nah, that was my gig in college, though, if it makes you feel any better.”

“It does not.”

“Fair enough. Anyway, if I’m gonna have to do paperwork, can I at least bring some of this dessert to go? I was promised a free meal…”

[gibsonsflowofthoughts]

Which moments in NFL history do you wish you had seen live?

The NFL has had some indelible moments throughout its nearly 100-year existence. The Immaculate Reception. The Music City Miracle. The Minnesota Miracle. David Tyree’s Super Bowl catch. Wide Right. The Catch. Kevin Dyson coming up a yard short. The Butt Fumble.

We’ve seen many of them live, either on television or in person. But for others, it only feels that way because they’re such a familiar part of sports lore. Maybe we weren’t born yet or were too young to remember. Or maybe we first caught the clip on Twitter or SportsCenter. But those plays were spoiled for us: we knew ahead of time that we were about see something special.

For some of us, we saw it on TV, but we wish we could have been there in the stadium and shared that experience with a large group of our fellow slack-jawed fans who were feeling the exact same amazement as we were.

Either way, you never forget what it’s like to watch something like that unfold in real time, transitioning from that “what just happened?” shock to the realization that what you just witnessed will go down into NFL history.

Here are nine moments — on the field and off, live on TV or in person — we wish we had seen when they happened:

We wish we had been there in person

2016 NFC Championship Game

Even though it ended in catastrophe, the 2016 season was the most fun I’ve ever had watching the Atlanta Falcons. They could score at will, play great defense in spurts, and were just a thoroughly entertaining team to watch.

I wish I was at this game just for one specific play.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched that play. It was a pure display of physical dominance by Julio Jones, a perfect throw by Matt Ryan, and a great play call by Kyle Shanahan.

There are few times when one football player is clearly one step ahead of his competition. This was absolutely one of those instances on one of the biggest stages the NFL has to offer. As the CEO of the Julio Jones Fan Club, I really wish I was there for this moment. - Charles McDonald

Beast Quake

The real appeal of seeing something live, in my opinion, is soaking in the moment with the crowd. There’s just nothing quite like over 60,000 people losing their shit simultaneously.

Probably my favorite NFL video of the last calendar year was the sideline view of Stefon Diggs’ miracle touchdown against the Saints in the playoffs. If a crowd going that bananas doesn’t give you chills or goosebumps or, at the very least, a smile, you’re just not enjoying sports right.

So with that said, I’m flying my time machine to Seattle in January 2011 when Marshawn Lynch ran through approximately 87 Saints tacklers on his way to a 67-yard touchdown that clinched the Seahawks an unlikely playoff win. It has since been dubbed “Beast Quake” because the crowd noise literally caused a small tremor that was recorded on nearby seismographs.

Watching videos online of that kind of collective explosion is fun, but I can only imagine how incredible it must’ve been like to take in the moment with Seahawks faithful. — Adam Stites

Randy Moss fake-moons Lambeau Field

“That is a disgusting act by Randy Moss,” Joe Buck said.

Actually, it was an amazing act. I yearn to have been there. — Alex Kirshner

The Minneapolis Miracle

This is such an easy choice for so many reasons. We can start off with the fact that I’m a Falcons fan that enjoys Saints pain. The other thing here that really anybody that’s not a Saints fan can enjoy, is that this was an absolutely ridiculous ending to a football game.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that nobody thought the Vikings were going to be able to pull that off. If you know somebody that claims otherwise, they’re lying.

Plus, if you could get Joe Buck to lose his mind like that without Randy Moss pretending to show his ass, you’ve really done something. Not to mention the range of emotions it put everyone else through. — Harry Lyles Jr.

X-Clown

Some plays are indelibly burned in your mind and feel recent, even though they were forever ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since the Carolina Panthers went to double overtime against the Rams in the NFC Divisional Playoffs, but this feels like yesterday.

The game was a complete slugfest, and at the time the game was billed as the Panthers’ grinding run game vs. Marc Bulger and the Rams’ astounding air attack — but in the end it was Steve Smith’s walk-off touchdown that took it all home.

This play was so damn disrespectful for the time, and it was beautiful. Jake Delhomme was never an amazing quarterback — but he had this knack for making big time throws when it counted. Hitting Smitty in stride after the pump fake was pure beauty, and I lost it in the basement of my parents’ house when it happened. I wish I could have been there live. — James Dator

We wish we had been alive for — or old enough to appreciate

The Ice Bowl

There are approximately one thousand incredible moments that make up the Packers’ storied history, but few can match the rarified air of the 1967 NFL Championship Game — better known as the Ice Bowl. It was a balmy -15 when the Packers and Cowboys took the field in Green Bay, and wind chill made it feel as awful as -48 as Lambeau Field’s broken heating system left a slippery sheen of ice atop the turf.

What happened next was football as performance art. Neither team gained more than 200 yards, leading to 16 combined punts that kept the crowd wondering which would shatter first: the ball itself or Donny Anderson’s foot. The Packers trailed 17-14 with 16 seconds on the clock and no timeouts remaining when Vince Lombardi got bold, dialed up a quarterback sneak for Bart Starr, and punched his team’s ticket to a second straight Super Bowl.

Watching it on TV would be cool. Watching it at Lambeau would be legendary. Look at this photo of our collective grandpas, showing up 50,000-deep for a football game in a frigid town of 75,000.

via the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Stare at that picture and inhale deeply, through your nose. Do you smell it? It’s the smell of 150,000 brandy old-fashioneds and stale Lucky Strike cigarettes being slowly smothered by the cold. I want in. — Christian D’Andrea

T.O. celebrating on the Dallas star

For me, a San Francisco 49ers fan, there are some obvious moments. I was born in 1990, and therefore missed some of the greatest moments in franchise history. I was alive for one that doesn’t necessarily hold up to The Catch, but is still one of my favorite moments in football history: Terrell Owens’ celebration on the Dallas Cowboys’ star.

The reason that’s my pick is twofold: I obviously would have loved to be at that game live, screaming my face off at Cowboys fans and hoping they don’t beat my obnoxious 10-year-old ass; and also I would have loved to see the reactions on social media. At that time, Facebook was still four years away, while Twitter was a further two years out.

Don’t get me wrong — social media and sports is an awful combination pretty much 95 percent of the time. But the gloriousness that would come out of the reactions to Owens’ celebration on the star, Emmitt Smith’s retaliatory celebration on the same star, and Owens’ follow-up second celebration on it would be phenomenal. Of course, if Twitter existed, it hardly would have been suitable for 10-year-old me. Or perhaps I’d fit right in. — James Brady

The “Super Bowl Shuffle” phenomenon

Whether you were alive during the 80s or not, it’s the Potter Stewart obscenity case: you know it when you see it.

And if you’ve seen even a glimpse of the “Super Bowl Shuffle,” it’s about as 80s as it gets:

The production value of Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” music video. Awkward dancing. Even awkwarder rapping. Those closeups of the one guy in sunglasses. Sax solo — and oh wait, he’s wearing sunglasses too! A COWBELL.

This wasn’t a play on the field or really even a moment: It was an actual phenomenon. The song sold more than 700,000 copies in its first year, made around $200,000 for charity, the record went gold, the video was in heavy rotation at MTV, and it lost a Grammy to Prince.

So even if today it looks more like a parody, it was a legitimate hit then and people enjoyed it for any number of reasons — because the players were having fun, because they were trying to help feed the needy, because Walter Payton’s spitting rhymes like “Well, they call me Sweetness/And I like to dance/Runnin’ the ball is like makin’ romance.”

Other NFL musical efforts like “Ram It,” “Buddy’s Watchin’ You,” and “Living the American Dream” soon followed, but none of those could top the one that paved the way in December 1985.

That’s another point that could easily be overlooked now but probably wasn’t then: It was released almost two months before the Super Bowl. Were people charmed by the cockiness of it? How much outrage was there in a world before social media and Skip Bayless types were on TV spouting exhausting nonsense on a seemingly never-ending basis? Or, hopefully, did fans understand that these larger-than-life personalities were having a blast riding this once-in-a-lifetime season?

Luckily for the Bears, they went on to win their first (and still only) Super Bowl that January. But the “Super Bowl Shuffle” had much more entertainment value than their 46-10 blowout win over the Patriots.

Unfortunately for the Bears, like most things sports fans love, controversy followed. It still lives on today, even though we know an NFL team now would never and could never replicate such an iconic, goofy-in-all-the-right-ways sensation that transcended football and even sports. And that’s why it would’ve been, like, so totally rad to experience this little piece of pop culture-meets-sports history then. — Sarah Hardy

We wish we hadn’t gone to bed and completely missed this

The Seahawks’ goal-line play in Super Bowl 49

As 100 million Americans were sitting on the edge of their seats wondering why Russell Wilson was lined up in the shotgun at the goal line during the final seconds of Super Bowl 49, I was just hitting REM sleep in a London dorm.

When I woke up the next morning and turned to Twitter, I was thinking the same thing as everyone else: “Why the hell didn’t the Seahawks give the ball to Marshawn Lynch on the 1-yard line?”

Except, I actively made the decision to stop watching the game after the first half 14-14 tie. I say that with great shame, especially since one of my best friends is a huge Patriots fans and was, according to my sources at the bar, crying profusely after Malcolm Butler made the pick to seal the Patriots’ Super Bowl title.

I could give you a long list of excuses (some legit and others not so much) about why I chose to leave the bar, but I wouldn’t be doing myself any favors. Just know that I’ve learned my lesson: Under no circumstance should you ever stop watching the Super Bowl in order to get sleep. Never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of Tom Brady Super Bowl comebacks! — Isaac Chipps

Dope article from sbnation.com

[fromtheringapron]

WCW Halloween Havoc 1998

Date: October 25, 1998

Location: MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. 

Attendance: 10,663

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan

Results:

1. WCW Television Championship Match: Chris Jericho (champion) defeated Raven. 

2. Wrath defeated Meng. 

3. Disco Inferno defeated Juventud Guerrera. As a result, Disco Inferno earned a shot at the WCW Cruiserweight Championship later in the night. 

4. Alex Wright defeated Fit Finlay.

5. Saturn defeated Lodi. 

6. WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match: Kidman (champion) defeated Disco Inferno. 

7. WCW Tag Team Championship Match: Rick Steiner & Buff Bagwell defeated Scott Steiner & The Giant (champions) to win the titles. Per stipulation, Rick Steiner earned a match against Scott Steiner. 

8. Rick Steiner defeated Scott Steiner. 

9. Scott Hall defeated Kevin Nash via countout. 

10. WCW United States Championship Match: Bret Hart (champion) defeated Sting via knockout. 

11. Hollywood Hogan defeated The Warrior. 

12. WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Goldberg (champion) defeated Diamond Dallas Page. 

Analysis

Halloween Havoc 1998 is one of WCW’s most infamous shows. Its pratfalls have been well-discussed. Hogan vs. Warrior II is a huge dud and its accompanying storyline is one of the most ludicrous in wrestling history. The show’s pay-per-view feed shutting off in many areas right before the main event seems like one of those blunders that could only happen in WCW. It also suffers from the ubiquitousness of the nWo, which is the death knell for any show from this time period. But, amidst all the chaos, it remains a must-watch because for all its much-publicized misgivings, there’s a lot of good creeping out from under that big jack-o’-lantern in the entrance way.

Hogan/Warrior II is certainly a disaster, but you’d be worse off for taking it too seriously. Yes, it’s a major embarrassment for two men who took part in one of WrestleMania’s most iconic matches, and each botch is more painful the last, but it’s practically become the Plan 9 from Outer Space of wrestling matches. By the time Hogan completely botches his attempt at throwing a fireball in Warrior’s face, it’s so easy to laugh at the absurdity of the whole affair. There’s some genuine humor to be found in the fact that the match is just Hogan’s attempt at saving face from a loss he sustained eight years before, only for it to blow up in his face. Who knew a fireball could prove so literal?

While it’s a shame Hogan/Warrior II, and the pay-per-view feed snafu, overshadow the main event, the battle between DDP and Goldberg over the WCW Championship is fantastic. The relatively tame MGM crowd becomes completely unglued, as the match is just dynamite from the opening bell. It only builds in intensity from there, leading to an unbearably tense climax. When DDP counters the Jackhammer with a Diamond Cutter, the crowd literally fall out of their seats. Even better is how the match is free of any nWo hijinks and involves two men whose stars were entirely created in WCW. It’s a glimmer of hope for the promotion’s future, far removed from the overpaid Hogans and Warriors eclipsing its young roster.

As with any WCW show from this era, the midcard shows so much promise with the likes of Kidman, Chris Jericho, Raven, Wrath, Saturn, etc.⏤all of whom are growing into their own characters. WCW’s penchant for giving their older, well-established stars the spotlight is well-known but it’s clear they could easily usher in a new era as 1998 draws to a close. Unfortunately, as the next few months of WCW television after this show prove, that hope, much like the Warror’s WCW run, is all just smoke and mirrors.

My Random Notes

I have nostalgic feelings for this show. I dressed as WCW Warrior that Halloween because I seriously thought that iteration of his character was the coolest thing ever (yes, I know). It’s also one of those shows that just brings me right back to a time where wearing an Austin 3:16 or nWo shirt felt so commonplace. Man, 1998 was such a hot time for wrestling. I would know, of course. I had a WCW/nWo lunch box in first grade.

Say what you will about the nWo Wolfpac, but they moved those merchandise sales. I don’t think I could picture 1998 WCW without imagining a sea of fans covered in red & black.

Wolfpac Sting looks completely ridiculous. He looks he just buried his face in a bowl of tomato sauce before he came to the ring. It’s honestly kinda disturbing.

I always cringe when I hear Schiavone or Tenay drool over the Nitro Girls because it sounds so forced to the point you can almost hear Eric Bischoff yelling in their ear or something. Leave Spice and AC Jazz alone.

The entrance set is so fucking badass. WCW entrance sets during this time were consistently great anyway. When they had a themed show like Halloween Havoc or Bash at the Beach, they totally went for it.

As with any Halloween Havoc, there’s some truly WTF names etched into the gravestones, including somebody named, um, Baguette???

I’m sorry, but writing Scott Hall’s alcoholism into a storyline is seriously gross, especially when you consider the real-life strain it was bringing to his family. Also, pretty bizarre how Road Warrior Hawk’s substance abuse problems were also turned into a storyline in the WWF around the same time, which is equally gross. All for them Monday night ratings, right?

Some people actually have the gaul to criticize this show for featuring two Disco Inferno matches and I hope they find Jesus.

Apparently Konnan debuted his music video during this show but it seems to be cut from the WWE Network version. Did I just completely skip over it? For those who’ve seen it, how embarrassing was it?

Two completely unnecessary swerves here in Buff Bagwell and Horace Hogan’s heel turns. It shows just how convoluted the nWo has become since its beginning, although I’m of the opinion that the first few months of the nWo were excellent and everything is mostly hot garbage after that. Good thing the nWo Hollywood/Wolfpac feud will have a satisfying conclusion a few months after this show that will bring WCW to new, exciting heights (source needed)!

[vernicle]

How to Make a Root Beer Float from Scratch | HTME: Remix

In a new remixed online video, we revisit just one of my favored jobs of making a root beer float from scratch. In it, I had to forage my very own sassafras roots and wintergreen, tap a tree for maple syrup, brew my very own root beer, and milk a goat to make the ice product.

Disclaimer: The safrole oil contained in sassafras root is identified to be a weak hepatocarcinogen at better doses in rats and mice and is banned for use by the Fda. This ban is controversial as extra current scientific tests have advised it may effect human beings differently, with some scientists position it only as hazardous as respiration indoor air or ingesting town h2o. Use at your very own hazard.

- Why are we recutting outdated content material? We manufactured a transition final 12 months to how we deliver and edit our episodes to greater fit a structure that is extra YouTube welcoming and we want to update our outdated content material to match. We have also developed in sizing significantly this 12 months and want to be equipped to share some of our favored jobs with our new viewers who may have skipped our more mature content material.

Thank you to: - Lisa Rose: Verify out her e book: http://goo.gl/HQzwUU - Well-known Hills Goat Farm: http://ift.tt/2vgefrt - Izzy’s Ice Product: http://ift.tt/28ORxKc - Reasonable Point out Brewing: https://fairstate.coop/

|| In This Online video || Want to learn how to forage oneself? Verify out Lisa Rose's e book: http://goo.gl/HQzwUU

Our Camera Equipment: - GH4: https://goo.gl/Kpgf9D - FS5: https://goo.gl/aPd428

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|| ABOUT || Today, having what you want is as easy as a vacation to the store. From food stuff to outfits, strength, medication, and so substantially extra, Andy George will uncover what it will take to make every little thing from scratch. His mission is to comprehend the complicated processes of manufacturing that is typically taken for granted and do it all himself. Each and every 7 days he’s traveling the globe to bypass the present day source chain in order to harvest uncooked elements straight from the source. Along the way, he’s answering the issues you by no means considered to talk to.

Music by the proficient Taylor Lewin http://taylorlewin.com source

from Viral News Around The World - Feed http://ift.tt/2vD3oc7 via IFTTT

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the art behind Thimbleweed Park, the rise of RimWorld, and much, much more.

For anyone counting, this is week 31 of picks, and I'm still managing to keep up the weekly pace - primarily because my regular social media trawls during the week allow me to stack up links to post at the weekend! And this is still without regular RSS feed checking - so there's got to be a bunch more stories I'm missing. Ah well.

So much good stuff out there - and I really enjoyed some of the more esoteric stories in this week's set, including the piece on Tamagotchi collectors and the visually impaired Roguelike players. There are all kinds of unique, wonderful video game nerds under the sun, aren't there? Until next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Stress of Game Development - Tips for Survival (Extra Credits / YouTube) "Making games is hard. You need all kinds of technical and creative skills, but most importantly, you need to know how to manage the many kinds of stress that come with it."

Game Design Deep Dive: Watch Dogs 2's Invasion of Privacy missions (Christopher Dragert / Gamasutra) "In this article, I will describe some of the technical challenges and design decisions that drove development of the Invasion of Privacy feature in Watch Dogs 2. Areas of focus will include managing branching scenarios, motion capture challenges, controlling NPC state, maintaining dialog flow, and NPC coordination."

Video Games Aren’t Addictive (Christopher J Ferguson & Patrick Markey / New York Times) "Is video game addiction a real thing? It’s certainly common to hear parents complain that their children are “addicted” to video games. Some researchers even claim that these games are comparable to illegal drugs in terms of their influence on the brain — that they are “digital heroin” (the neuroscientist Peter C. Whybrow) or “digital pharmakeia” (the neuroscientist Andrew Doan)."

The Job Simulator Postmortem (Alex Schwartz & Devin Reimer / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 postmortem, Owlchemy Labs' Alexander Schwartz and Devin Reimer analyze the challenges of building, sharing, shipping, and sustaining Job Simulator on multiple platforms with examples showing both successful and less-than-successful design prototypes and how iteration led to the final product."

The Underground World of Tamagotchi Collectors (Alyssa Bereznak / The Ringer) "On October 26 of last year, a user named “psychotama” made his first entry in what would become a detailed online diary, otherwise known as a “Tama log.” “I’m not quite sure how to begin,” he wrote in purple Comic Sans. “My journey with Tamagotchi began about 13 years ago.”"

'Make me think, make me move': New Doom's deceptively simple design (Kris Graft / Gamasutra) "Doom is known for its speed and straightforwardness – move fast, shoot demons. It's a seemingly simple combination that, at the franchise’s best, evokes an ultraviolent cognitive flow. But Doom’s apparent simplicity belies a core design that is difficult to achieve."

From 'Zelda' to 'Witcher 3': Why We're Still Talking About 'Skyrim' (Alex Kane / Glixel) "How Bethesda's 2011 masterpiece – and the colossal online culture of fan art, memes, and music surrounding it – forever changed the game for fantasy RPGs."

Precious Moments, Hype and High School: A Conversation with 'Persona 5' Director Katsura Hashino (Sayem Ahmed / Waypoint) "Hashino tells me that seeing the anticipation for the game build, as previously announced street dates passed and more information on the game crept out via the press, was both "encouraging and scary.""

How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons (Noam Scheiber / New York Times) "The company has undertaken an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth. [SIMON'S NOTE: you may have seen this, but thought it particularly interesting that GDC board member Chelsea Howe was also quoted in here re: F2P-style coercive psychology evils.]"

Why games like 'Super Mario 64' had terrible cameras (Mike Rougeau / Mashable) "The camera is the interactive window through which we experience video games; the term describes not just our perspective and view of a digital space, but the freedom of or restrictions on how we as players control that viewpoint."

A Year after Firewatch (Colin Campbell / Polygon) "With sales of more than a million copies, developer Campo Santo is now working on its next project: unannounced as yet. I sat down with writer Sean Vanaman to talk about the direction he wants to go in next, and how he feels about Firewatch one year after its launch."

Kevin Horton Is a Cryogenics Engineer Turned Retro Gaming Savior (Nicholas DeLeon / Motherboard) "By day Horton, 43, is an engineer at a cryogenics company (he's worked at the same company since high school). But online, he's better known online as Kevtris (in reference to a Tetris clone he developed in the mid-1990s), where he is the brains behind a series of critical technological breakthroughs that allow gamers to play classic video games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid on modern televisions."

Interactive Fiction Appears at the Whitney Biennial (Chris Klimas / Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation) "The 2017 Whitney Biennial has something curious to offer fans of interactive fiction. Among the works shown this year are With Those We Love Alive and howling dogs, Twine works written by Charity Heartscape Porpentine. [SIMON'S NOTE: short article, but great news, & the linked interview is also notable.]"

From Rational to Emotional: Designs that Increase Player Retention (Jim Brown / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 session, Epic's Jim Brown provides specific examples of design techniques that encourage the formation of enduring emotional ties that could enhance both retention and enjoyment for players in game design."

A Brief History Of Speedrunning (Kat Brewster / ReadOnlyMemory) "A good speedrun is hypnotising to watch – this goes for ones showcased at GDQ, or the ones which get circulated around the internet for their insane jumps or cutscene skips or lightning fast movement. They’re a dizzying show of hard won skill and palpable effort. The video of a world record time which knocks an hours-long campaign into minutes can be jaw-dropping."

In Their War With The Wall Street Journal, Top YouTubers Just Played Themselves (Patricia Hernandez / Kotaku) "Over the last couple of weeks, anger has been bubbling on YouTube over the news that major brands pulled advertisements on the platform in an effort to avoid being matched with objectionable content. The reports, which were published by the Wall Street Journal, were met with such skepticism that they sparked scandalous conspiracy theories among YouTube’s top creators."

After tragedy strikes, a dev's friends strive to complete his game (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "Former Harmonix programmer Roger Morash had been working on his passion project, a co-op platformer called Shard, for years before he died in January of this year. "

Inside the Shady World of PlayStation Network Account Resellers (Patrick Klepek / Waypoint) "A few weeks ago, Mic Fok got a weird email. The person writing it claimed they'd been playing Overwatch on a PlayStation Network account for more than six months, but the password had changed recently. But why would Fok know anything about this random dude's account?"

(Not) a Thimbleweed Park review (Matej Jan / Retronator) "Thimbleweed Park started as a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. “It’s like opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before.” [SIMON'S NOTE: mainly linking this for the amaaazing vintage Mark Ferrari art linked within, tho the whole thing is cute!]"

Playing roguelikes when you can’t see (Kent Sutherland / RockPaperShotgun) "For most of us, traditional roguelikes are intrinsically inaccessible. They’re notoriously difficult, their design is complicated and often opaque, they can have more hotkeys than there are keys on the keyboard, and their ASCII-based visuals mean that it’s often unclear what’s happening on the screen. It’s these exact qualities, however, that ironically make roguelikes accessible and even appealing to blind or low-sight players."

The Game Beat Weekly: Digital Foundry and Microsoft make it "exclusive" (Kyle Orland / Tinyletter) "That kind of server-melting traffic shows why it would have been somewhat crazy for Eurogamer to turn down Microsoft's invitation to see Scorpio up close at their Redmond headquarters last week. But agreeing to an exclusive of this magnitude also risks coming across as a mere mouthpiece for a company you're supposed to be covering with a kind of detached objectivity."

The Witness - Noclip Documentary (NoClip / YouTube) "What lies at the heart of Jonathan Blow's island of mystery? We talk to the famed indie designer about how one of his earliest design ideas blossomed into The Witness."

A Pioneer Story: How MECC Blazed New Trails (Joe Juba / Game Informer) "Decades ago, as computing migrated from research labs and universities and into the mainstream, one company in Minnesota was instrumental in bringing technology into classrooms. Thanks to its focused mission and talented staff, the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) used exceptional software like The Oregon Trail to engage and educate a generation of students – and establish an unforgettable legacy."

Inside 'RimWorld', the Cult Sci-Fi Hit That Just Keeps Growing (Chris Priestman / Glixel) "Since its earliest public release on Steam Early Access in July, RimWorld – a sci-fi space colony sim – has amassed more than 600,000 players, and it's not even a finished project."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the art behind Thimbleweed Park, the rise of RimWorld, and much, much more.

For anyone counting, this is week 31 of picks, and I'm still managing to keep up the weekly pace - primarily because my regular social media trawls during the week allow me to stack up links to post at the weekend! And this is still without regular RSS feed checking - so there's got to be a bunch more stories I'm missing. Ah well.

So much good stuff out there - and I really enjoyed some of the more esoteric stories in this week's set, including the piece on Tamagotchi collectors and the visually impaired Roguelike players. There are all kinds of unique, wonderful video game nerds under the sun, aren't there? Until next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Stress of Game Development - Tips for Survival (Extra Credits / YouTube) "Making games is hard. You need all kinds of technical and creative skills, but most importantly, you need to know how to manage the many kinds of stress that come with it."

Game Design Deep Dive: Watch Dogs 2's Invasion of Privacy missions (Christopher Dragert / Gamasutra) "In this article, I will describe some of the technical challenges and design decisions that drove development of the Invasion of Privacy feature in Watch Dogs 2. Areas of focus will include managing branching scenarios, motion capture challenges, controlling NPC state, maintaining dialog flow, and NPC coordination."

Video Games Aren’t Addictive (Christopher J Ferguson & Patrick Markey / New York Times) "Is video game addiction a real thing? It’s certainly common to hear parents complain that their children are “addicted” to video games. Some researchers even claim that these games are comparable to illegal drugs in terms of their influence on the brain — that they are “digital heroin” (the neuroscientist Peter C. Whybrow) or “digital pharmakeia” (the neuroscientist Andrew Doan)."

The Job Simulator Postmortem (Alex Schwartz & Devin Reimer / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 postmortem, Owlchemy Labs' Alexander Schwartz and Devin Reimer analyze the challenges of building, sharing, shipping, and sustaining Job Simulator on multiple platforms with examples showing both successful and less-than-successful design prototypes and how iteration led to the final product."

The Underground World of Tamagotchi Collectors (Alyssa Bereznak / The Ringer) "On October 26 of last year, a user named “psychotama” made his first entry in what would become a detailed online diary, otherwise known as a “Tama log.” “I’m not quite sure how to begin,” he wrote in purple Comic Sans. “My journey with Tamagotchi began about 13 years ago.”"

'Make me think, make me move': New Doom's deceptively simple design (Kris Graft / Gamasutra) "Doom is known for its speed and straightforwardness – move fast, shoot demons. It's a seemingly simple combination that, at the franchise’s best, evokes an ultraviolent cognitive flow. But Doom’s apparent simplicity belies a core design that is difficult to achieve."

From 'Zelda' to 'Witcher 3': Why We're Still Talking About 'Skyrim' (Alex Kane / Glixel) "How Bethesda's 2011 masterpiece – and the colossal online culture of fan art, memes, and music surrounding it – forever changed the game for fantasy RPGs."

Precious Moments, Hype and High School: A Conversation with 'Persona 5' Director Katsura Hashino (Sayem Ahmed / Waypoint) "Hashino tells me that seeing the anticipation for the game build, as previously announced street dates passed and more information on the game crept out via the press, was both "encouraging and scary.""

How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons (Noam Scheiber / New York Times) "The company has undertaken an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth. [SIMON'S NOTE: you may have seen this, but thought it particularly interesting that GDC board member Chelsea Howe was also quoted in here re: F2P-style coercive psychology evils.]"

Why games like 'Super Mario 64' had terrible cameras (Mike Rougeau / Mashable) "The camera is the interactive window through which we experience video games; the term describes not just our perspective and view of a digital space, but the freedom of or restrictions on how we as players control that viewpoint."

A Year after Firewatch (Colin Campbell / Polygon) "With sales of more than a million copies, developer Campo Santo is now working on its next project: unannounced as yet. I sat down with writer Sean Vanaman to talk about the direction he wants to go in next, and how he feels about Firewatch one year after its launch."

Kevin Horton Is a Cryogenics Engineer Turned Retro Gaming Savior (Nicholas DeLeon / Motherboard) "By day Horton, 43, is an engineer at a cryogenics company (he's worked at the same company since high school). But online, he's better known online as Kevtris (in reference to a Tetris clone he developed in the mid-1990s), where he is the brains behind a series of critical technological breakthroughs that allow gamers to play classic video games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid on modern televisions."

Interactive Fiction Appears at the Whitney Biennial (Chris Klimas / Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation) "The 2017 Whitney Biennial has something curious to offer fans of interactive fiction. Among the works shown this year are With Those We Love Alive and howling dogs, Twine works written by Charity Heartscape Porpentine. [SIMON'S NOTE: short article, but great news, & the linked interview is also notable.]"

From Rational to Emotional: Designs that Increase Player Retention (Jim Brown / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 session, Epic's Jim Brown provides specific examples of design techniques that encourage the formation of enduring emotional ties that could enhance both retention and enjoyment for players in game design."

A Brief History Of Speedrunning (Kat Brewster / ReadOnlyMemory) "A good speedrun is hypnotising to watch – this goes for ones showcased at GDQ, or the ones which get circulated around the internet for their insane jumps or cutscene skips or lightning fast movement. They’re a dizzying show of hard won skill and palpable effort. The video of a world record time which knocks an hours-long campaign into minutes can be jaw-dropping."

In Their War With The Wall Street Journal, Top YouTubers Just Played Themselves (Patricia Hernandez / Kotaku) "Over the last couple of weeks, anger has been bubbling on YouTube over the news that major brands pulled advertisements on the platform in an effort to avoid being matched with objectionable content. The reports, which were published by the Wall Street Journal, were met with such skepticism that they sparked scandalous conspiracy theories among YouTube’s top creators."

After tragedy strikes, a dev's friends strive to complete his game (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "Former Harmonix programmer Roger Morash had been working on his passion project, a co-op platformer called Shard, for years before he died in January of this year. "

Inside the Shady World of PlayStation Network Account Resellers (Patrick Klepek / Waypoint) "A few weeks ago, Mic Fok got a weird email. The person writing it claimed they'd been playing Overwatch on a PlayStation Network account for more than six months, but the password had changed recently. But why would Fok know anything about this random dude's account?"

(Not) a Thimbleweed Park review (Matej Jan / Retronator) "Thimbleweed Park started as a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. “It’s like opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before.” [SIMON'S NOTE: mainly linking this for the amaaazing vintage Mark Ferrari art linked within, tho the whole thing is cute!]"

Playing roguelikes when you can’t see (Kent Sutherland / RockPaperShotgun) "For most of us, traditional roguelikes are intrinsically inaccessible. They’re notoriously difficult, their design is complicated and often opaque, they can have more hotkeys than there are keys on the keyboard, and their ASCII-based visuals mean that it’s often unclear what’s happening on the screen. It’s these exact qualities, however, that ironically make roguelikes accessible and even appealing to blind or low-sight players."

The Game Beat Weekly: Digital Foundry and Microsoft make it "exclusive" (Kyle Orland / Tinyletter) "That kind of server-melting traffic shows why it would have been somewhat crazy for Eurogamer to turn down Microsoft's invitation to see Scorpio up close at their Redmond headquarters last week. But agreeing to an exclusive of this magnitude also risks coming across as a mere mouthpiece for a company you're supposed to be covering with a kind of detached objectivity."

The Witness - Noclip Documentary (NoClip / YouTube) "What lies at the heart of Jonathan Blow's island of mystery? We talk to the famed indie designer about how one of his earliest design ideas blossomed into The Witness."

A Pioneer Story: How MECC Blazed New Trails (Joe Juba / Game Informer) "Decades ago, as computing migrated from research labs and universities and into the mainstream, one company in Minnesota was instrumental in bringing technology into classrooms. Thanks to its focused mission and talented staff, the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) used exceptional software like The Oregon Trail to engage and educate a generation of students – and establish an unforgettable legacy."

Inside 'RimWorld', the Cult Sci-Fi Hit That Just Keeps Growing (Chris Priestman / Glixel) "Since its earliest public release on Steam Early Access in July, RimWorld – a sci-fi space colony sim – has amassed more than 600,000 players, and it's not even a finished project."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the art behind Thimbleweed Park, the rise of RimWorld, and much, much more.

For anyone counting, this is week 31 of picks, and I'm still managing to keep up the weekly pace - primarily because my regular social media trawls during the week allow me to stack up links to post at the weekend! And this is still without regular RSS feed checking - so there's got to be a bunch more stories I'm missing. Ah well.

So much good stuff out there - and I really enjoyed some of the more esoteric stories in this week's set, including the piece on Tamagotchi collectors and the visually impaired Roguelike players. There are all kinds of unique, wonderful video game nerds under the sun, aren't there? Until next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Stress of Game Development - Tips for Survival (Extra Credits / YouTube) "Making games is hard. You need all kinds of technical and creative skills, but most importantly, you need to know how to manage the many kinds of stress that come with it."

Game Design Deep Dive: Watch Dogs 2's Invasion of Privacy missions (Christopher Dragert / Gamasutra) "In this article, I will describe some of the technical challenges and design decisions that drove development of the Invasion of Privacy feature in Watch Dogs 2. Areas of focus will include managing branching scenarios, motion capture challenges, controlling NPC state, maintaining dialog flow, and NPC coordination."

Video Games Aren’t Addictive (Christopher J Ferguson & Patrick Markey / New York Times) "Is video game addiction a real thing? It’s certainly common to hear parents complain that their children are “addicted” to video games. Some researchers even claim that these games are comparable to illegal drugs in terms of their influence on the brain — that they are “digital heroin” (the neuroscientist Peter C. Whybrow) or “digital pharmakeia” (the neuroscientist Andrew Doan)."

The Job Simulator Postmortem (Alex Schwartz & Devin Reimer / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 postmortem, Owlchemy Labs' Alexander Schwartz and Devin Reimer analyze the challenges of building, sharing, shipping, and sustaining Job Simulator on multiple platforms with examples showing both successful and less-than-successful design prototypes and how iteration led to the final product."

The Underground World of Tamagotchi Collectors (Alyssa Bereznak / The Ringer) "On October 26 of last year, a user named “psychotama” made his first entry in what would become a detailed online diary, otherwise known as a “Tama log.” “I’m not quite sure how to begin,” he wrote in purple Comic Sans. “My journey with Tamagotchi began about 13 years ago.”"

'Make me think, make me move': New Doom's deceptively simple design (Kris Graft / Gamasutra) "Doom is known for its speed and straightforwardness – move fast, shoot demons. It's a seemingly simple combination that, at the franchise’s best, evokes an ultraviolent cognitive flow. But Doom’s apparent simplicity belies a core design that is difficult to achieve."

From 'Zelda' to 'Witcher 3': Why We're Still Talking About 'Skyrim' (Alex Kane / Glixel) "How Bethesda's 2011 masterpiece – and the colossal online culture of fan art, memes, and music surrounding it – forever changed the game for fantasy RPGs."

Precious Moments, Hype and High School: A Conversation with 'Persona 5' Director Katsura Hashino (Sayem Ahmed / Waypoint) "Hashino tells me that seeing the anticipation for the game build, as previously announced street dates passed and more information on the game crept out via the press, was both "encouraging and scary.""

How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons (Noam Scheiber / New York Times) "The company has undertaken an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth. [SIMON'S NOTE: you may have seen this, but thought it particularly interesting that GDC board member Chelsea Howe was also quoted in here re: F2P-style coercive psychology evils.]"

Why games like 'Super Mario 64' had terrible cameras (Mike Rougeau / Mashable) "The camera is the interactive window through which we experience video games; the term describes not just our perspective and view of a digital space, but the freedom of or restrictions on how we as players control that viewpoint."

A Year after Firewatch (Colin Campbell / Polygon) "With sales of more than a million copies, developer Campo Santo is now working on its next project: unannounced as yet. I sat down with writer Sean Vanaman to talk about the direction he wants to go in next, and how he feels about Firewatch one year after its launch."

Kevin Horton Is a Cryogenics Engineer Turned Retro Gaming Savior (Nicholas DeLeon / Motherboard) "By day Horton, 43, is an engineer at a cryogenics company (he's worked at the same company since high school). But online, he's better known online as Kevtris (in reference to a Tetris clone he developed in the mid-1990s), where he is the brains behind a series of critical technological breakthroughs that allow gamers to play classic video games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid on modern televisions."

Interactive Fiction Appears at the Whitney Biennial (Chris Klimas / Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation) "The 2017 Whitney Biennial has something curious to offer fans of interactive fiction. Among the works shown this year are With Those We Love Alive and howling dogs, Twine works written by Charity Heartscape Porpentine. [SIMON'S NOTE: short article, but great news, & the linked interview is also notable.]"

From Rational to Emotional: Designs that Increase Player Retention (Jim Brown / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 session, Epic's Jim Brown provides specific examples of design techniques that encourage the formation of enduring emotional ties that could enhance both retention and enjoyment for players in game design."

A Brief History Of Speedrunning (Kat Brewster / ReadOnlyMemory) "A good speedrun is hypnotising to watch – this goes for ones showcased at GDQ, or the ones which get circulated around the internet for their insane jumps or cutscene skips or lightning fast movement. They’re a dizzying show of hard won skill and palpable effort. The video of a world record time which knocks an hours-long campaign into minutes can be jaw-dropping."

In Their War With The Wall Street Journal, Top YouTubers Just Played Themselves (Patricia Hernandez / Kotaku) "Over the last couple of weeks, anger has been bubbling on YouTube over the news that major brands pulled advertisements on the platform in an effort to avoid being matched with objectionable content. The reports, which were published by the Wall Street Journal, were met with such skepticism that they sparked scandalous conspiracy theories among YouTube’s top creators."

After tragedy strikes, a dev's friends strive to complete his game (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "Former Harmonix programmer Roger Morash had been working on his passion project, a co-op platformer called Shard, for years before he died in January of this year. "

Inside the Shady World of PlayStation Network Account Resellers (Patrick Klepek / Waypoint) "A few weeks ago, Mic Fok got a weird email. The person writing it claimed they'd been playing Overwatch on a PlayStation Network account for more than six months, but the password had changed recently. But why would Fok know anything about this random dude's account?"

(Not) a Thimbleweed Park review (Matej Jan / Retronator) "Thimbleweed Park started as a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. “It’s like opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before.” [SIMON'S NOTE: mainly linking this for the amaaazing vintage Mark Ferrari art linked within, tho the whole thing is cute!]"

Playing roguelikes when you can’t see (Kent Sutherland / RockPaperShotgun) "For most of us, traditional roguelikes are intrinsically inaccessible. They’re notoriously difficult, their design is complicated and often opaque, they can have more hotkeys than there are keys on the keyboard, and their ASCII-based visuals mean that it’s often unclear what’s happening on the screen. It’s these exact qualities, however, that ironically make roguelikes accessible and even appealing to blind or low-sight players."

The Game Beat Weekly: Digital Foundry and Microsoft make it "exclusive" (Kyle Orland / Tinyletter) "That kind of server-melting traffic shows why it would have been somewhat crazy for Eurogamer to turn down Microsoft's invitation to see Scorpio up close at their Redmond headquarters last week. But agreeing to an exclusive of this magnitude also risks coming across as a mere mouthpiece for a company you're supposed to be covering with a kind of detached objectivity."

The Witness - Noclip Documentary (NoClip / YouTube) "What lies at the heart of Jonathan Blow's island of mystery? We talk to the famed indie designer about how one of his earliest design ideas blossomed into The Witness."

A Pioneer Story: How MECC Blazed New Trails (Joe Juba / Game Informer) "Decades ago, as computing migrated from research labs and universities and into the mainstream, one company in Minnesota was instrumental in bringing technology into classrooms. Thanks to its focused mission and talented staff, the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) used exceptional software like The Oregon Trail to engage and educate a generation of students – and establish an unforgettable legacy."

Inside 'RimWorld', the Cult Sci-Fi Hit That Just Keeps Growing (Chris Priestman / Glixel) "Since its earliest public release on Steam Early Access in July, RimWorld – a sci-fi space colony sim – has amassed more than 600,000 players, and it's not even a finished project."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the art behind Thimbleweed Park, the rise of RimWorld, and much, much more.

For anyone counting, this is week 31 of picks, and I'm still managing to keep up the weekly pace - primarily because my regular social media trawls during the week allow me to stack up links to post at the weekend! And this is still without regular RSS feed checking - so there's got to be a bunch more stories I'm missing. Ah well.

So much good stuff out there - and I really enjoyed some of the more esoteric stories in this week's set, including the piece on Tamagotchi collectors and the visually impaired Roguelike players. There are all kinds of unique, wonderful video game nerds under the sun, aren't there? Until next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Stress of Game Development - Tips for Survival (Extra Credits / YouTube) "Making games is hard. You need all kinds of technical and creative skills, but most importantly, you need to know how to manage the many kinds of stress that come with it."

Game Design Deep Dive: Watch Dogs 2's Invasion of Privacy missions (Christopher Dragert / Gamasutra) "In this article, I will describe some of the technical challenges and design decisions that drove development of the Invasion of Privacy feature in Watch Dogs 2. Areas of focus will include managing branching scenarios, motion capture challenges, controlling NPC state, maintaining dialog flow, and NPC coordination."

Video Games Aren’t Addictive (Christopher J Ferguson & Patrick Markey / New York Times) "Is video game addiction a real thing? It’s certainly common to hear parents complain that their children are “addicted” to video games. Some researchers even claim that these games are comparable to illegal drugs in terms of their influence on the brain — that they are “digital heroin” (the neuroscientist Peter C. Whybrow) or “digital pharmakeia” (the neuroscientist Andrew Doan)."

The Job Simulator Postmortem (Alex Schwartz & Devin Reimer / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 postmortem, Owlchemy Labs' Alexander Schwartz and Devin Reimer analyze the challenges of building, sharing, shipping, and sustaining Job Simulator on multiple platforms with examples showing both successful and less-than-successful design prototypes and how iteration led to the final product."

The Underground World of Tamagotchi Collectors (Alyssa Bereznak / The Ringer) "On October 26 of last year, a user named “psychotama” made his first entry in what would become a detailed online diary, otherwise known as a “Tama log.” “I’m not quite sure how to begin,” he wrote in purple Comic Sans. “My journey with Tamagotchi began about 13 years ago.”"

'Make me think, make me move': New Doom's deceptively simple design (Kris Graft / Gamasutra) "Doom is known for its speed and straightforwardness – move fast, shoot demons. It's a seemingly simple combination that, at the franchise’s best, evokes an ultraviolent cognitive flow. But Doom’s apparent simplicity belies a core design that is difficult to achieve."

From 'Zelda' to 'Witcher 3': Why We're Still Talking About 'Skyrim' (Alex Kane / Glixel) "How Bethesda's 2011 masterpiece – and the colossal online culture of fan art, memes, and music surrounding it – forever changed the game for fantasy RPGs."

Precious Moments, Hype and High School: A Conversation with 'Persona 5' Director Katsura Hashino (Sayem Ahmed / Waypoint) "Hashino tells me that seeing the anticipation for the game build, as previously announced street dates passed and more information on the game crept out via the press, was both "encouraging and scary.""

How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons (Noam Scheiber / New York Times) "The company has undertaken an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth. [SIMON'S NOTE: you may have seen this, but thought it particularly interesting that GDC board member Chelsea Howe was also quoted in here re: F2P-style coercive psychology evils.]"

Why games like 'Super Mario 64' had terrible cameras (Mike Rougeau / Mashable) "The camera is the interactive window through which we experience video games; the term describes not just our perspective and view of a digital space, but the freedom of or restrictions on how we as players control that viewpoint."

A Year after Firewatch (Colin Campbell / Polygon) "With sales of more than a million copies, developer Campo Santo is now working on its next project: unannounced as yet. I sat down with writer Sean Vanaman to talk about the direction he wants to go in next, and how he feels about Firewatch one year after its launch."

Kevin Horton Is a Cryogenics Engineer Turned Retro Gaming Savior (Nicholas DeLeon / Motherboard) "By day Horton, 43, is an engineer at a cryogenics company (he's worked at the same company since high school). But online, he's better known online as Kevtris (in reference to a Tetris clone he developed in the mid-1990s), where he is the brains behind a series of critical technological breakthroughs that allow gamers to play classic video games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid on modern televisions."

Interactive Fiction Appears at the Whitney Biennial (Chris Klimas / Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation) "The 2017 Whitney Biennial has something curious to offer fans of interactive fiction. Among the works shown this year are With Those We Love Alive and howling dogs, Twine works written by Charity Heartscape Porpentine. [SIMON'S NOTE: short article, but great news, & the linked interview is also notable.]"

From Rational to Emotional: Designs that Increase Player Retention (Jim Brown / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 session, Epic's Jim Brown provides specific examples of design techniques that encourage the formation of enduring emotional ties that could enhance both retention and enjoyment for players in game design."

A Brief History Of Speedrunning (Kat Brewster / ReadOnlyMemory) "A good speedrun is hypnotising to watch – this goes for ones showcased at GDQ, or the ones which get circulated around the internet for their insane jumps or cutscene skips or lightning fast movement. They’re a dizzying show of hard won skill and palpable effort. The video of a world record time which knocks an hours-long campaign into minutes can be jaw-dropping."

In Their War With The Wall Street Journal, Top YouTubers Just Played Themselves (Patricia Hernandez / Kotaku) "Over the last couple of weeks, anger has been bubbling on YouTube over the news that major brands pulled advertisements on the platform in an effort to avoid being matched with objectionable content. The reports, which were published by the Wall Street Journal, were met with such skepticism that they sparked scandalous conspiracy theories among YouTube’s top creators."

After tragedy strikes, a dev's friends strive to complete his game (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "Former Harmonix programmer Roger Morash had been working on his passion project, a co-op platformer called Shard, for years before he died in January of this year. "

Inside the Shady World of PlayStation Network Account Resellers (Patrick Klepek / Waypoint) "A few weeks ago, Mic Fok got a weird email. The person writing it claimed they'd been playing Overwatch on a PlayStation Network account for more than six months, but the password had changed recently. But why would Fok know anything about this random dude's account?"

(Not) a Thimbleweed Park review (Matej Jan / Retronator) "Thimbleweed Park started as a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. “It’s like opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before.” [SIMON'S NOTE: mainly linking this for the amaaazing vintage Mark Ferrari art linked within, tho the whole thing is cute!]"

Playing roguelikes when you can’t see (Kent Sutherland / RockPaperShotgun) "For most of us, traditional roguelikes are intrinsically inaccessible. They’re notoriously difficult, their design is complicated and often opaque, they can have more hotkeys than there are keys on the keyboard, and their ASCII-based visuals mean that it’s often unclear what’s happening on the screen. It’s these exact qualities, however, that ironically make roguelikes accessible and even appealing to blind or low-sight players."

The Game Beat Weekly: Digital Foundry and Microsoft make it "exclusive" (Kyle Orland / Tinyletter) "That kind of server-melting traffic shows why it would have been somewhat crazy for Eurogamer to turn down Microsoft's invitation to see Scorpio up close at their Redmond headquarters last week. But agreeing to an exclusive of this magnitude also risks coming across as a mere mouthpiece for a company you're supposed to be covering with a kind of detached objectivity."

The Witness - Noclip Documentary (NoClip / YouTube) "What lies at the heart of Jonathan Blow's island of mystery? We talk to the famed indie designer about how one of his earliest design ideas blossomed into The Witness."

A Pioneer Story: How MECC Blazed New Trails (Joe Juba / Game Informer) "Decades ago, as computing migrated from research labs and universities and into the mainstream, one company in Minnesota was instrumental in bringing technology into classrooms. Thanks to its focused mission and talented staff, the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) used exceptional software like The Oregon Trail to engage and educate a generation of students – and establish an unforgettable legacy."

Inside 'RimWorld', the Cult Sci-Fi Hit That Just Keeps Growing (Chris Priestman / Glixel) "Since its earliest public release on Steam Early Access in July, RimWorld – a sci-fi space colony sim – has amassed more than 600,000 players, and it's not even a finished project."

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to vgdeepcuts@simoncarless.com. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include the art behind Thimbleweed Park, the rise of RimWorld, and much, much more.

For anyone counting, this is week 31 of picks, and I'm still managing to keep up the weekly pace - primarily because my regular social media trawls during the week allow me to stack up links to post at the weekend! And this is still without regular RSS feed checking - so there's got to be a bunch more stories I'm missing. Ah well.

So much good stuff out there - and I really enjoyed some of the more esoteric stories in this week's set, including the piece on Tamagotchi collectors and the visually impaired Roguelike players. There are all kinds of unique, wonderful video game nerds under the sun, aren't there? Until next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Stress of Game Development - Tips for Survival (Extra Credits / YouTube) "Making games is hard. You need all kinds of technical and creative skills, but most importantly, you need to know how to manage the many kinds of stress that come with it."

Game Design Deep Dive: Watch Dogs 2's Invasion of Privacy missions (Christopher Dragert / Gamasutra) "In this article, I will describe some of the technical challenges and design decisions that drove development of the Invasion of Privacy feature in Watch Dogs 2. Areas of focus will include managing branching scenarios, motion capture challenges, controlling NPC state, maintaining dialog flow, and NPC coordination."

Video Games Aren’t Addictive (Christopher J Ferguson & Patrick Markey / New York Times) "Is video game addiction a real thing? It’s certainly common to hear parents complain that their children are “addicted” to video games. Some researchers even claim that these games are comparable to illegal drugs in terms of their influence on the brain — that they are “digital heroin” (the neuroscientist Peter C. Whybrow) or “digital pharmakeia” (the neuroscientist Andrew Doan)."

The Job Simulator Postmortem (Alex Schwartz & Devin Reimer / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 postmortem, Owlchemy Labs' Alexander Schwartz and Devin Reimer analyze the challenges of building, sharing, shipping, and sustaining Job Simulator on multiple platforms with examples showing both successful and less-than-successful design prototypes and how iteration led to the final product."

The Underground World of Tamagotchi Collectors (Alyssa Bereznak / The Ringer) "On October 26 of last year, a user named “psychotama” made his first entry in what would become a detailed online diary, otherwise known as a “Tama log.” “I’m not quite sure how to begin,” he wrote in purple Comic Sans. “My journey with Tamagotchi began about 13 years ago.”"

'Make me think, make me move': New Doom's deceptively simple design (Kris Graft / Gamasutra) "Doom is known for its speed and straightforwardness – move fast, shoot demons. It's a seemingly simple combination that, at the franchise’s best, evokes an ultraviolent cognitive flow. But Doom’s apparent simplicity belies a core design that is difficult to achieve."

From 'Zelda' to 'Witcher 3': Why We're Still Talking About 'Skyrim' (Alex Kane / Glixel) "How Bethesda's 2011 masterpiece – and the colossal online culture of fan art, memes, and music surrounding it – forever changed the game for fantasy RPGs."

Precious Moments, Hype and High School: A Conversation with 'Persona 5' Director Katsura Hashino (Sayem Ahmed / Waypoint) "Hashino tells me that seeing the anticipation for the game build, as previously announced street dates passed and more information on the game crept out via the press, was both "encouraging and scary.""

How Uber Uses Psychological Tricks to Push Its Drivers’ Buttons (Noam Scheiber / New York Times) "The company has undertaken an extraordinary experiment in behavioral science to subtly entice an independent work force to maximize its growth. [SIMON'S NOTE: you may have seen this, but thought it particularly interesting that GDC board member Chelsea Howe was also quoted in here re: F2P-style coercive psychology evils.]"

Why games like 'Super Mario 64' had terrible cameras (Mike Rougeau / Mashable) "The camera is the interactive window through which we experience video games; the term describes not just our perspective and view of a digital space, but the freedom of or restrictions on how we as players control that viewpoint."

A Year after Firewatch (Colin Campbell / Polygon) "With sales of more than a million copies, developer Campo Santo is now working on its next project: unannounced as yet. I sat down with writer Sean Vanaman to talk about the direction he wants to go in next, and how he feels about Firewatch one year after its launch."

Kevin Horton Is a Cryogenics Engineer Turned Retro Gaming Savior (Nicholas DeLeon / Motherboard) "By day Horton, 43, is an engineer at a cryogenics company (he's worked at the same company since high school). But online, he's better known online as Kevtris (in reference to a Tetris clone he developed in the mid-1990s), where he is the brains behind a series of critical technological breakthroughs that allow gamers to play classic video games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid on modern televisions."

Interactive Fiction Appears at the Whitney Biennial (Chris Klimas / Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation) "The 2017 Whitney Biennial has something curious to offer fans of interactive fiction. Among the works shown this year are With Those We Love Alive and howling dogs, Twine works written by Charity Heartscape Porpentine. [SIMON'S NOTE: short article, but great news, & the linked interview is also notable.]"

From Rational to Emotional: Designs that Increase Player Retention (Jim Brown / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 session, Epic's Jim Brown provides specific examples of design techniques that encourage the formation of enduring emotional ties that could enhance both retention and enjoyment for players in game design."

A Brief History Of Speedrunning (Kat Brewster / ReadOnlyMemory) "A good speedrun is hypnotising to watch – this goes for ones showcased at GDQ, or the ones which get circulated around the internet for their insane jumps or cutscene skips or lightning fast movement. They’re a dizzying show of hard won skill and palpable effort. The video of a world record time which knocks an hours-long campaign into minutes can be jaw-dropping."

In Their War With The Wall Street Journal, Top YouTubers Just Played Themselves (Patricia Hernandez / Kotaku) "Over the last couple of weeks, anger has been bubbling on YouTube over the news that major brands pulled advertisements on the platform in an effort to avoid being matched with objectionable content. The reports, which were published by the Wall Street Journal, were met with such skepticism that they sparked scandalous conspiracy theories among YouTube’s top creators."

After tragedy strikes, a dev's friends strive to complete his game (Chris Priestman / Gamasutra) "Former Harmonix programmer Roger Morash had been working on his passion project, a co-op platformer called Shard, for years before he died in January of this year. "

Inside the Shady World of PlayStation Network Account Resellers (Patrick Klepek / Waypoint) "A few weeks ago, Mic Fok got a weird email. The person writing it claimed they'd been playing Overwatch on a PlayStation Network account for more than six months, but the password had changed recently. But why would Fok know anything about this random dude's account?"

(Not) a Thimbleweed Park review (Matej Jan / Retronator) "Thimbleweed Park started as a spiritual successor to Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. “It’s like opening a dusty old desk drawer and finding an undiscovered LucasArts adventure game you’ve never played before.” [SIMON'S NOTE: mainly linking this for the amaaazing vintage Mark Ferrari art linked within, tho the whole thing is cute!]"

Playing roguelikes when you can’t see (Kent Sutherland / RockPaperShotgun) "For most of us, traditional roguelikes are intrinsically inaccessible. They’re notoriously difficult, their design is complicated and often opaque, they can have more hotkeys than there are keys on the keyboard, and their ASCII-based visuals mean that it’s often unclear what’s happening on the screen. It’s these exact qualities, however, that ironically make roguelikes accessible and even appealing to blind or low-sight players."

The Game Beat Weekly: Digital Foundry and Microsoft make it "exclusive" (Kyle Orland / Tinyletter) "That kind of server-melting traffic shows why it would have been somewhat crazy for Eurogamer to turn down Microsoft's invitation to see Scorpio up close at their Redmond headquarters last week. But agreeing to an exclusive of this magnitude also risks coming across as a mere mouthpiece for a company you're supposed to be covering with a kind of detached objectivity."

The Witness - Noclip Documentary (NoClip / YouTube) "What lies at the heart of Jonathan Blow's island of mystery? We talk to the famed indie designer about how one of his earliest design ideas blossomed into The Witness."

A Pioneer Story: How MECC Blazed New Trails (Joe Juba / Game Informer) "Decades ago, as computing migrated from research labs and universities and into the mainstream, one company in Minnesota was instrumental in bringing technology into classrooms. Thanks to its focused mission and talented staff, the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) used exceptional software like The Oregon Trail to engage and educate a generation of students – and establish an unforgettable legacy."

Inside 'RimWorld', the Cult Sci-Fi Hit That Just Keeps Growing (Chris Priestman / Glixel) "Since its earliest public release on Steam Early Access in July, RimWorld – a sci-fi space colony sim – has amassed more than 600,000 players, and it's not even a finished project."

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